Is there a way to detect diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's before they advance too far? Doctors are using injected radioactive drugs that circulate through the body and act as a beacon for PET scanners. These diagnostic tools can...

A new virus emerges and spreads like wildfire. In order to contain it, researchers must first collect data about who's been infected. Two main viral testing techniques are critical: one tells you if you have the virus and the other shows...

In 1884, an unlucky patient who had a rapidly growing cancer in his neck came down with an unrelated bacterial skin infection. As he recovered from the infection, the cancer surprisingly began to recede. The infection had stimulated the...

In 1970, marijuana was classified as a schedule 1 drug in the United States: the strictest designation possible, meaning it was completely illegal and had no recognized medical uses. Today, marijuana's therapeutic benefits are widely...

It's an increasingly common sight in hospitals around the world: a nurse measures our height, weight, blood pressure, and attaches a glowing plastic clip to our finger. Suddenly, a digital screen reads out the oxygen level in our...

New ReviewQualifying for social security is a major milestone on the road to retirement. But if you aren’t strategic about your planning, you may end up stopping work too soon. Here's how to decide the right time to retire.

New ReviewSchool districts across the country are thinking about reopening. What is that going to look like? Can school reopenings be handled safely?

New ReviewWhile the Senate and the House haven't been very effective in passing repeal of Obamacare, the ACA's provisions are still at risk. There's a lot that Donald Trump's administration can do (or not do) to undermine Obamacare's provisions...

Singapore is a small city-state that likely isn't as well known to you as some of the other countries we've discussed before. But they've got one of the most fascinating health care systems around. It's cheap, it's pretty much universal,...

Last week we discussed the United States health care system. This week we discuss Canada's. We also take some time to bust some myths about their single payer health care system. Fight about it in the comments below.

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Recently, Ron Johnson (R) of Wisconsin launched an investigation into whether the Medicaid expansion that was part of Obamacare caused America's opioid crisis. Healthcare Triage has looked at the evidence, and we think it's a dubious claim.

We've done the US, Canada, and France. None of them are really socialized healthcare systems. To get at that, we need to go look at a system like that of the UK. More specifically, we're going to talk about England's National Health...

This week, Aaron looks at studies on how health care workers' incomes compare to the rest of the population and to each other. Also, there's a new study out showing to many kids are victims of violence, and King v Burwell has been...

A surprising amount of spending on healthcare in America is wasteful - we’ve talked about that before. In today’s episode, we discuss different approaches to reducing that waste, and potential barriers standing in the way.

Every once in a while, we like to take a moment and focus on health systems around the world. Today, we're looking at Taiwan, which made the transition to a single payer system kind of suddenly, and pretty recently.

The US healthcare system has a huge gap. A lot of care giving isn't covered, and it falls on families and friends to pick up the slack. It can take a lot of time and help to make it through an illness, and there isn't much coverage for...

In almost every year since the 1960s, health care spending has grown at least as fast as the overall economy, and often much faster. Health economists have long debated why.

You might think that once drugs, devices and medical procedures are shown to be effective, they quickly become available. You might also think that those shown not to work as well as alternatives are immediately discarded. Reasonable...

It's clearly, provably better for patients to have Medicaid coverage than to be uninsured, despite what critics of the program claim. Recently, bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives have sought to greatly reduce Medicaid...

One of the original justifications for Medicare is that older people have much higher health care needs and expenses. But there are a few common misunderstandings about health costs when people are older, including the idea that money...

HCT 2016 Year in Review

American healthcare spending is still WAY higher than pretty much all other industrialized countries. But not that long ago, things were different. The US didn't spend nearly as much in this realm. What changed? Demographics? More...

The US healthcare system has a lot of issues, but one thing it's got going for it is innovation. More clinical trials originate in the United States, and more Nobel Physiology and Medicine Laureates are from here than from any other...