Do you need to have high cholesterol to take a cholesterol drug? Apparently not.
Competition matters: more hospitals mean lower costs.
Temper dysregulation with dysphoria: It is what causes children to thrown temper tantrums.
There is no obesity epidemic: Two new studies by the CDC — one about obesity in children and the other about adult obesity — both published in JAMA.
Births of babies with cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs and other less familiar disorders have dropped. Reason: Gene testing as part of routine prenatal care.
Cost to develop a new drug: $1 billion. Previous estimate was $802 million. (Hat tip to Jason Shafrin.)
Resolutions introduced in 42 states remind the federal government of the limits on federal power. It’s called the Tenth Amendment.
A bill in Georgia “would allow individuals and families to buy health plans that have been approved for sale in other states.” Governor Sunny Perdue is a big supporter.
Because of guaranteed issue and community rating, New York’s individual health insurance market has shrunk. It’s 1/20th the size of the market in other states.
“We have already wasted a lot of money on disease management,” says Randall Brown, director of health research at Mathematica. “I’m worried we could throw more money down the drain.”
A marathon operation: It took 43 hours to finish.
Can people die of a broken heart? Apparently, yes.
UnitedHealthcare sends doctors individualized report cards.
World’s fattest man (he used to eat 20,000 calories a day) is writing a book on how to lose weight. We previously reported on the former record-holder, Manuel Uribe, who shed more than half of his weight to get married.
Paul Mason
700 pounds
Living on top of a mountain causes loss of 3 pounds per week.
Barack Obama’s proposes to slash the manned spaceflight program, ending plans for a return of astronauts to the moon. Surprisingly, this is good for both science and technology.
“If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people.” He’s talking about misleading food labels where one bowl typically equals 2 servings.
MRIs really are magnetic. Knives, scissors and other metal objects go flying.
Ten unhealthiest sandwiches in America.
What does Obama’s spending freeze look like? (video)
Virginia’s Democratic-controlled state Senate bill makes it illegal to require individuals to purchase health insurance. Does that mean they can imprison violaters?
More than half of Americans look up health information on the Internet. But only 5 percent e-mail their doctors.
The Lancet retracts its study linking measles-mumps-rubella vaccines to autism. About 12 years too late.
