Category Archives: Healthcare

The Times They Are A’changin’

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Jim Wheeler

COVID-19 has already changed lives radically, but it remains to be seen how much change we’ll see long-term, but some change seems inevitable because it’s happened before.  Its easy to see why people say “bless you” when someone sneezes. Will … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Culture, Economics, Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Measuring Up, Plan or Plot?

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Jim Wheeler

How does a parent measure a dose of liquid medicine for her child when the label says, give child ¾ teaspoonful by mouth twice a day for 5 days ? This was the real-life example used in a report by … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, government regulation, Healthcare | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Scapegoat?

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Jim Wheeler

Relative to the VA scandal, there is much to ponder. Even MSNBC’s sainted Rachel Maddow said the other night that it is “a test of government”, or words to that effect. Why does Medicare work and the VA healthcare system … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

The Chargemaster

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Jim Wheeler

One of the several magazines I subscribe to is Time. It’s skinnier than it used to be and it doesn’t provide as extensive a coverage of the nation’s culture as it used to aspire doing, but it does produce writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 52 Comments

Open Wide and Say, AHA!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Jim Wheeler

Few events in American life are more controversial than healthcare reform, the Affordable Care Act, also known as “ObamaCare”. The prejudice against it from the right has been so intense and prolonged that the mere term became a pejorative on … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

A Naval Approach to Healthcare

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Jim Wheeler

Most Americans find the notion of “socialized medicine” to be abhorrent. In most citizens the concept evokes visions of a moribund, inefficient bureaucracy more concerned with paperwork than in attending to the complexities of health problems. However, I would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Medical errors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

China Redux?

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Jim Wheeler

A major meme driving conservatives’ disparagement, nay hatred, of Obamacare, is that it is a socialistic approach to medicine, something that is ruining “the greatest healthcare system in the world” by turning competitive businesses (the medical industrial complex) into a … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Medical Contract

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jim Wheeler

I read a George Will column on the Supreme Court’s review of the ACA in this morning’s Joplin Globe that prompted me to submit a letter to the editor. With apologies to those readers who have endured my essays on … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

It Costs How Much?

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Jim Wheeler

In marveling at Limbaugh’s attack on college student Sandra Fluke something popped up in my brain. Did I hear that right? Does a year’s supply of birth control pills really cost $1,000? Surely not. Hormonal birth control has now been … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Jim Wheeler

If you want to tick off an American, any American, young, old, male, female, just try ordering them around. Want to see real anger? Pass a law telling them what they have to buy. mandate noun 1. an official order … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments