health department

Introduction: Transparency International's 2017 Global Corruption Barometer US Results Last month, Transparency International (TI) released the results of its 2017 US Corruption Barometer, a global survey of peoples' perceptions of the degree to which their national institutions are corrupt.  We discussed the results from the US, based on data collected in late 2016, which showed that the US

On Health Care Renewal, we have been decrying American health care dysfunction since 2004.  For years, the US consistently has had the most expensive health care system of any developed country.  For that exhorbitant price, it provides at best medicocre access to and quality of care.  The latest (2017) international comparison of health systems produced by the Commonwealth Fund shows that the US

A few days ago we noticed just one more marcher in the parade of legal settlements.  But it was once again a huge health care corporation, and it had aspects that demanded attention. Pfizer Makes $94 Million Settlement of Allegations of Fraud to Delay Generic Competition A tiny item in Becker's Hospital News on November 28, 2017, stated: Pfizer will pay $94 million to resolve allegations

We have noted  (most recently here),  that health care corruption, particularly its global nature and its presence in developed countries like the US, is a taboo topic and thus remains anechoic.  Yet corruption in general, and health care corruption in particular, are huge global problems. Transparency International just released the full results of the 2017 version of its Global Corruption

The pace of people spinning through the US federal revolving door seems unprecedented.  Most were people going from the health care corporations to government positions regulating or making policy influencing those same corporations.  Since our last roundup, of 11 days ago, we have found two more significant travelers from industry to government, and one from the previous administration

This latest revolving door case echoes scandals of long ago. Background: CEO Dr William McGuire and the UnitedHealth Affair A long time ago,in a galaxy far, far away, actually, from 2006 through 2008, we posted frequently about shenanigans at huge for-profit health insurance/ managed care company UnitedHealth.  We often discussed the patient-unfriendliness of its policies and processes (look

The controversy over the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," still goes on in the US.  The ACA, which is still the law of the land after congressional Republicans made attempts to repeal and replace it, was meant to increase access to health care by increasing access to health care insurance without disturbing the current US reliance on private, mostly for-profit health insurance companies It