May, 2004

Support your local concierge physician - Before the Clintonians and Gekkonians nip it in the bud. May, 2004

Standing up against empowerment - Docs should either lead, or get out of the way. April, 2004

What happens to the wounded shark? - Why whistleblower doctors cannot live.  November, 2003

First Skirmish of the PHCA Wars - Boutique practices can help the doctor-patient relationship - so they must be destroyed.  October, 2003

Ethicist-assisted suicide - If they say it's okay, let them do it.  September, 2003

Doctors finally admit to bedside rationing - as ethicists struggle to figure out why - August, 2003

Fighting over a Medicare drug plan - the fight's older than we might remember - July, 2003

Drug price controls that really work! - We can fix this sucker today! - June, 2003

HMOs absorb another blow - What will become of them if they have to listen to any old doc? - May, 2003

HMOs call for universal coverage! - sure it's bad, but better than the alternative - April, 2003

HMOs to Us: So what are you all complaining about? - new study documents effectiveness of HMO appeals processes - March, 2003

Evil drug companies at it again, and what we can do about it - another of DrRich's modest proposals - February, 2003

Do not remove this shingle under penalty of the law - PA docs can't even get out of the game- January, 2003

Docs bailing from Medicare - and Hillary is starting to look better and better - December, 2002

FBI raids docs  - more damned if you do and damned if you don't - November, 2002

E-health sites move to the small time - while small sites like YourDoctorIntheFamily.com retain their peak values - October, 2002

Rationing through research - how insisting on "science" saves money - September, 2002

Nursing shortage? Congress to the rescue! - a solution that avoids the problem - August, 2002

HMO pays clerks to keep patients from doctors - what's wrong with a bonus system? - July, 2002

E&M guidelines to bite the dust? - If so, it's not for lack of trying - June, 2002

Docs vs. HMOs: Are HMOs guilty of racketeering? - prepare to be shocked, shocked - May, 2002

Medicare works at perfecting obfuscation - why waste years of regulatory murk? - April, 2002

Medical ethics redefined for the times - it's official: if ethical principles are too difficult, just change them - March 2002

More good news for low-quality health plans - and a painful irony for doctors - February, 2002

Is Aetna reverse cherry-picking? - drive out the healthy, keep the sick? January, 2002

AMA: We need Doctors' Unions to protect patients - and the Taliban to protect women's rights - December, 2001

Defined contribution plans growing - and will cause some pain before their benefits are realized - October, 2001

HMOs to docs: the check's in the mail - along with the sweepstakes winnings - September, 2001

The Patients' Bill of Rights Compromise, Explained - Bush's "victory" is merely a rear-guard action - August, 2001

If it's too hard to uphold ethical principles, just change them - and stop worrying - July, 2001

Advance Directives don't work, but that's OK - It's the thought that counts - June, 2001

Smile when you say Provider - Can't we at least maintain a pretense here? - May, 2001

Prominent British hospital accused of discrimination - But let's be civil about it. - April, 2001

Will Bush ease up on Health Fraud? - Don't count on it. Doctors should keep their heads down - March, 2001

Cherrypicking 2001 - Internists are not PCPs - the HMOs haven't given up yet - February, 2001

Physician profiling, on the other hand, is OK - Why Marcus Welby has no business in medicine. January, 2001

HMOs drop the ball in heart attack patients - don't gloat; non-HMO patients do almost as badly - 11/19/2000

Do consumers need protection from drug ads? - Let's stop confusing the poor things, and save a few bucks while we're at it - 10/21/2000

Drop in uninsured: is the crisis over? - not really, just waiting for the Fed - 10/07/2000

The main business of the federal government - quit complaining; they're supposed  to do this - 09/25/2000

Physicians: Behold Wen Ho Lee - there, but for the grace of God, go we - 09/18/2000

Al busses Tipper: Sell your drug stocks - the political maneuver of the Century (so far) - 09/09/2000

New study: Docs deceive their patients - and we told you so - 09/02/2000

PATH audit marches on - if it isn't ripe yet, why does it stink? - 08/12/2000

HMOs Make Nice! - forgive us if we seem a bit skeptical - 08/05/2000

E&M: The latest rattlesnake - who wants to go first? - 07/29/00

Medicare HMOs vote with their feet - now, who takes the hit? - 07/22/00

GOP drug plan sabotaged - done in by their own - 07/15/2000

Doctors' Unions - a bad idea whose time has come - 07/08/2000

A Medicare drug-benefit scorecard - in this case, you really can't tell the players without a card - 07/01/2000

The HMOs ditch Medicare - and for once the Clintonians are panicked over a health care issue - 06/24/2000

The new Gekkonian drug plan - a plan designed to show "they care" - 06/17/2000

Supreme court: HMOs are supposed to ration - and we told you so - 06/13/2000

Patients like managed care (unless they're sick) - so all's right with the world - 06/10/2000

Congress acts indignant - and it's sure good to know - 06/03/2000

Gekkonians' rear-guard actions - an update  - can they stall 'till fall? - 05/27/2000

Why Canadian drugs cost less - it's the lawyers - so all we need to do is change the fundamental operating principles of the legal profession - 05/20/2000

Doctors told to stop lying for their patients - otherwise, move over, Elian - 05/14/2000

Philip Morrising the drug companies - Part 3 - Are pharmaceuticals even more vile than we thought? - 05-06-2000

News and Commentary Archives - it may be old, but it's still news.

Glossary of essential concepts: 

DrRich says: You'll need these concepts to understand what's really going on in the health care news.  If you've read my Grand Unification Theory of Health Care, you should be all set to absorb the wisdom dripping from our News and Commentary pages. But if for some reason you opted to skip that life-altering experience,  you may find these brief synopses of key concepts helpful:

Covert rationing and the destruction of the doctor-patient relationship - Why your doctor's ability to do his best for you is being systematically destroyed, and why you should mind.

Clintonians vs. Gekkonians - Sort of like spy vs. spy, only it's health care.

The real scoop on managed care - Be one of the few to understand it. 

The American health care myth - Why it makes us so crazy.                     

The regulatory speed trap - How the feds are going to put your doctor in jail.