Health insurance to meet super heroes
The most recently hyped graphic novel isn’t about the exploits of some caped crusader. Instead, it is about the mysterious and complex world of – wait for it – health reform! Yes, health insurance, deductibles, PPOs and pre-existing conditions will all have a starring role in what is sure to be a riveting read on the inner workings of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
Health reform for the masses
The graphic novel – essentially a longer version of a comic book – is being planned by Hill and Wang, a division of publisher Farrer, Straus and Giroux.… Continue reading
What’s the FDA for?
For years under the Bush administration, the FDA found itself under pressure in two different ways. The first was a general cut-back in funding – something experienced by all the regulatory bodies with the GOP in power. The second was a political attack. With the pharmaceutical industry leading the charge, the FDA was often told to approve new drugs with less scrutiny or not to investigate reports of problems in newly licensed dugs. When a manufacturer has just spent tens of millions in getting approval, it does not want anything to prevent it from recovering its investment and producing a… Continue reading
Ultram: The New King of Painkillers
A Brief History of Painkillers
As long as there has been man, there has been pain. And as long as there has been civilization, probably even before Mesopotamian culture, there have been painkillers. Humans have turned to prayer, sacrifice, spiritualism, and folk medicine, as well as herbal remedies, tonics, and poultices. Long before the alchemists of Europe, China was practicing the traditional medicine that many trust in still today.
One of the most popular painkillers today, opioids have been used in medicine for literally thousands of years – in the form of opium.
In the 19th Century, medicine had a… Continue reading