For those who ever tried something that said on the label ‘one size fits all’ there is some shared learning because one size never fits all. This is true for socks, t-shirts and healthcare. Yet in spite of this collective experience, we settle for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies who approach patients with templates designed to treat everything and everyone the same or at least very similarly. Instead of an emphasis on in...

On this edition of the podcast, Houston based neurologist and the founder of the Houston Healthcare Initiative Dr. Steven Goldstein, will step us through the numbers associated with health insurance and hospitalization costs. Additionally, he will describe the profits hospitals and health insurance companies accrue and help us all decide was this a good way for all of us to spend money. Now make no mistake, neither one of us is aga...

In a time when so many lost their jobs because of the Covid-19 Pandemic….

Job & Health Insurance Loss Come and Go Together; How To Find Affordable Coverage 

March 2, 2021 -- In December 2020, 66% of Americans who answered a survey said they fear they won’t be able to afford health care this year. Of the 41% of respondents who are very or moderately concerned about health-care costs, 53% are parents with children. The amount of ...

This week respected Houston based neurologist Dr. Steven Goldstein will discuss the price’s patients are charged by doctors and hospitals. Specifically, on the new rules about healthcare price transparency. Specifically, on the new rules about healthcare and price transparency. What needed to change on disclosing prices and is anything different as a result? Of course, there are ways that the hospitals are playing around with the i...

A healthcare company blessed with lots of money, high tech abilities and really smart people will close up the end of January. Of course, this was Haven, the joint venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan-Chase. Its purpose was to use the leverage of its tens of thousands of employees and its expertise in technology to improve the healthcare system. What lessons can we learn from its failure to accomplish its mission...

Those with an interest in reforming the healthcare industry will be very interested in the topic of this podcast as respected neurologist Dr. Steven Goldstein tells us all about how some very large organizations tried and failed at reforming their employee health insurance. This is a story about an organization that was called Haven. When it was formed, the three companies had a lofty goal: to provide U.S. employees and their famil...

That times are unsettled was never truer than in 2020 and 2021 will start out that way. But in an unsettled time with so much of the nation’s attention turned to medical care, could it be the time to really push healthcare reform and what might that reform look like? Americans remain in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. What can we learn from it and how can this influence our thinking when it comes to healthcare reform? Or is it ...

There are currently 120 Coronavirus/Covid-19 vaccines in development and a race to be the first one available for the public. Being first with this vaccine will mean big rewards for the maker in the form of profits and scientific prestige. Along with these developments there is political pressure to not only be first but be first by election day. Regardless, the benefits of a vaccine for this extremely contagious virus will ultimat...

A group of U.S. doctors known collectively as the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons or the AAPS recently sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for limiting use of hydroxychloroquine, and the right to prescribe hydroxychloroquine as an off-label treatment for the Coronavirus/Covid-19 virus. But there is a larger issue here that will eventually transcend the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic and that is who ultimately...

On this edition we have a guest, Mr. Gerald Posner.  Mr. Posner is an accomplished investigative journalist and the author of a dozen books including “Case Closed,” a re-examination of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and “Mengele,” an account of the botched hunt for the Nazi war criminal. His latest work is “Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America.”  This book describes something we here are all very interest in whi...

On August 23, 2020 the Food and Drug Administration’s announced a decision to grant blood plasma treatment for Coronavirus/Covid-19 patients with a  fast-track authorization for its emergency use as a treatment for hospitalized COVID patients. This “emergency use authorization” triggered an outcry from scientists and doctors, who said the decision was not supported by adequate clinical evidence and criticized the FDA for what was p...

Because of the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, 25–43 million people could lose their jobs and their health insurance. People who had a serious illness before the outbreak and job loss could be dealt a literally fatal blow. Others who had symptoms and even serious accidents while unemployed and without insurance could suffer more than they would have if their insurance were in place. But there are resources available as described thi...

If the stress and anxiety associated with the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic were not enough, people who must go to doctors, clinics or hospitals, because of the virus or anything else, may also be more likely to receive a nasty surprise in the form of a much higher than expected bill. This bombshell applies even to those who have insurance and follow all the rules dictated by their healthcare insurance provider. Houston based neuro...

The current coronavirus/covid-19 pandemic is affecting the lives of everyone on the planet. All of us are asked to follow social distancing guidelines and self-isolate to curb the spread of the virus. Loneliness is one of the unexpected outcomes of all this distancing. Respected neurologist Dr. Steven Goldstein brings his medical opinions to how isolation impacts those who are most prone to both it and the coronavirus/covid-19 viru...