JANUARY 31, 2023

Drug prices capped, but not bills

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More than 63 million Americans are covered by Medicare.

Here’s the good news: By 2025, they’ll pay no more than $2,000 per year for their drugs.

Here’s the bad news: For those enrolled in traditional Medicare (about 35 million people) without supplemental coverage, there are no caps on hospital or doctor bills. That could mean catastrophic medical bills arising from catastrophic out-of-pocket expenses.

Medicare Advantage, which is operated by health insurance companies, offers limits on out-of-pocket costs (at a greater premium cost). Advocates are pushing to establish a cap for all services under Medicare.

Taking a mental health day

If you missed out on “quiet quitting,” maybe take a day off from work.

A new report from the U.S. Surgeon General says many Americans’ mental health and well-being is being tested by their workplace, specifically chronic stress, unpaid leave and endless hours.

Recent surveys found that 76 percent of U.S. workers reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition; 84 percent of respondents said their workplace conditions had contributed to at least one mental health challenge; and 81 percent of workers reported that they will be looking for workplaces that support mental health in the future.

Body of knowledge

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If a double strand of DNA in a single cell were the thickness of a clothesline, it would extend 5 miles from end to end.

Get me that. Stat!

According to a 2021 study published in Medical Care, the average primary care exam lasts 18 minutes

Counts

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1.3 million

Number of Americans who ration their use of lifesaving insulin due to the high cost of the drug. That works out to 16.5 percent of all adults with diabetes in the U.S.

Source: Annals of Internal Medicine

Stories for the waiting room

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In London, researchers have been digging through an old cemetery that was the site of multiple mass burials dating back to the height of the bubonic plague pandemic (1346-1350). Analyses of DNA samples have revealed how the bacteria that caused the pandemic altered the human genome, making it selectively better over time at resisting infection.

The layered nature of the cemetery has earned it an unusual nickname “the lasagna of Black Death.”

Doc talk

Cuticle

Most often referring to the thin layer of dead tissue riding on the nail plate to form a seal between the plate and the eponychium — the skin adjoining fingernails and toenails. It also references the outermost layer of the hair shaft.

Best medicine

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Patient in waiting room: Did you hear the case about the little girl who swallowed food coloring?

Another patient: No, what happened?

First patient: She dyed a little inside.

Observation

“A successful doctor needs three things: A top hat to give him authority; a paunch to give him dignity; and piles (aka hemorrhoids) to give him an anxious expression.”

English playwright and biographer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), who wrote under the pen name “Dr. Johnson.”

Medical history

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This week in 1998, a new glue called Dermabond was approved as a replacement for painful stitches in appropriate cases. Its manufacturer said Dermabond could seal off certain wounds quickly, without the need for painful shots: A doctor simply pressed the cut’s edges together and painted the glue across the top. Proper application required medical skill and practice, so the glue wasn’t intended for home use. Dermabond was a chemical cousin of Crazy Glue, the latter too toxic to be used to repair cuts.

Self-exam

Q: What is the largest joint in the human body?

a) Shoulder

b) Knee

c) Ankle

d) Hip

A: The knee is the largest joint in the body. It has to sustain the greatest stresses because it supports the entire weight of the body above it. The hip is second. It’s a debate whether the shoulder or the knee are the most complex.

Last words

“I want the world to be filled with white fluffy duckies.”

English artist and designer Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (1942-1994)

LaFee is a health science writer at UC San Diego.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.