One of the biggest fears facing Americans is loss or denial of health insurance. This recent analysis concludes that up to half of adults under age 65 are at risk of being denied due to a pre-existing condition. Note that the dark blue bars on the graph below are based on criteria provided by the […]

While searching for something else, I came across this important article from 2001 by Clyde Hertzman concerning the relationships between wealth, society, and health. One graph from the article says it all—the United States is deep in the “worse outcome, higher expenditure” quadrant. The author begins by defining the Socioeconomic Gradient as the relationship between social […]

First let’s define our terms… “Health is not a deliverable commodity and care does not come out of a system.” – Ivan Illich I fall back on this quote often because it reminds me of two important concepts: Health depends on individuals taking responsibility for their own behavior. Care depends on a relationship between two people (doctor […]

I remember growing up with the old Food Pyramid. It seemed so obvious to eat more pasta and skip the olive oil. How wrong they were! In 2004 I wrote a short review of Food Pyramids past, present, and future based on an article by Willett and Stampfer in Scientific American. Five years later I’ve updated and […]