Articles by Steven Moore

Getting an accurate count of how much Americans spend on healthcare every year and the specific items they purchase, like prescription drugs, is tricky. Think about it like this. If you are a small business owner or anyone else who itemizes their expenses, you have tough calls to make. For example, I use the mobile app Mint to track and sort my expenses. If I purchase internet access on a plane, does it go under “Business Services” or “Travel?” If I buy a bottle of wine for a business acquaint...

The odds are stacked dramatically in your favor that your child does not have Jordan’s Syndrome. The exception to that is if your child has unexplained developmental disabilities. And if your child has developmental disabilities, you would like her to be diagnosed with Jordan’s Syndrome. Because that would put Joe Lang on your team. A Determined Father Joe Lang has the "Father of the Year" award nailed down. Frankly, he probably has little credible competition for Lifetime Achievement Award f...

VICE News produced a 5 minute video for its HBO series following a Colorado diabetes patient who is testifying at the state capitol in favor of a bill which would require insulin manufacturers to disclose insulin pricing information. In producing the VICE video, correspondent Hamilton Morris has delivered a high-quality and emotionally engaging production. The only problem? It is factually lacking. Yellow Journalism? From Wikipedia: "Yellow journalism and the yellow press are American terms ...

In 2016, Americans spent nearly as much on healthcare as Germans spent on everything. At $3.3 trillion dollars, America’s healthcare spending is almost as much as the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s fourth largest economy. Given that America’s healthcare spending would be the world’s fifth largest economy on its own, it is not difficult to figure out that America spends more on healthcare for its people than any other country. On a per capita basis, the U.S. spent $10,348 in ...

Feel like health care costs are too high? Think drug prices are out of control? You are not alone. According to Kaiser, 80% of Americans feel the same way. Unfortunately, there is very little information about how drug and health care prices actually work. As with most of what we encounter in today’s world, things aren’t always as they seem. And in the world of partisan politics, our health care debate most often gets reduced to simple talking points that serve to inflame fear or anger rather ...

Dr. Saya Nagori works hard and is dedicated to her work. I know this because I first spoke with Dr. Nagori a few hours after her boyfriend surprised her with a ring and asked her to marry him. Between calls to aunts, uncles and old friends from college, Dr. Nagori talked to me for forty-five minutes about her innovative telemedicine business, SimpleContacts. Eyecare Telemedicine SimpleContacts is… well… pretty simple. The company’s technologists have developed an app that allows contact wea...

Most of America hates Big Pharma. You can quantify it. But many of the sins committed by the Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex fall outside the reach of brand name pharmaceutical companies that tend to take the most heat. Gallup regularly polls the attitudes of Americans toward various industries and institutions. In the most recent survey, just 33% of those asked had a positive opinion of the pharmaceutical industry. Only the federal government has fewer fans, at 28%. While bad actors like Tu...

Votes are still being counted and analysts are still trying to spot the trends from the June 5th primary. What we do know happened is more a story about what didn't happen: The crush of progressive activists expected to turn out to vote against Trump and swamping conservative candidates. They never did. Historic Low Voter Turnout The number of voters who turned out to vote for the June primary as a percent of Californians registered to vote is at a historical low of 21.8%.  The previous his...

Weedmaps, an online mapping service to help marijuana consumers find marijuana providers, is coming under fire from both within and without the marijuana industry. The Sacramento Bee reports that the "California Cannabis Industry Association became the latest player in the marijuana game to call out Weedmaps for continuing to advertise unlicensed retailers." Marijuana Industry & Weedmaps Divided During the legalization initiative campaign for recreational pot in 2016, the marijuana industry ...