Daylight Savings Time (DST) was first adopted by Germany in 1916 to conserve fuel during World War I. Over the next couple years, it was adopted in Europe and by the United States. More than a century later, scientists have begun to realize that its negative effects on safety and human health outweighs any benefits that it provides. As an aside, I wonder what took scientists 100 years to figure that out.
Category: Devon Herrick
The Mis-Match that Prevents Thousands of MDs from Working
Imagine spending eight years after high school studying for your dream career. You apply to every medical school you can think of. If you don’t get into a cheaper state school, you apply to more expensive private medical schools. Some aspiring physicians even apply to schools in other countries. When you finally graduate you must then apply for graduate medical education (GME) training programs, which are required before you can practice medicine in all 50 states.
Dental Tourism: Sun, Surf and Savings
I calculated what my ($4,000) Costa Rican dental work in 2021 would have cost in the United States. My back of the envelope math is about $12,000. Previous trips cost about $2,000 if I recall, including the implant, oral surgery with bone graft, panoramic x-ray, deep cleaning and two crowns. Basically, what would have cost more than $18,000 in Dallas was about $6,000 in Costa Rica. The quality is great and it was one-third the price.
When is an FDA-Approved Drug Not a Drug?
In 2018 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) suddenly removed Auryxia (ferric citrate) from the Medicare Part D drug formulary and began to require prior authorization for the few indications it would reimburse. CMS gave little information about the reversal but apparently made the decision because it views ferric citrate at a mineral product, like dietary supplements such as Vitamin C. Dietary supplements are not covered by Medicare except in a few cases.