Weekend Longforms: Preventable disease, drug hacks, health care labor, and caring for a post-op spouse
July 4-5, 2025
Happy Independence Day!
For the long weekend, here are a few longform articles that I think are worth some of your time
A. Damages of preventable diseases
Laura Unger writes that "“In 1900, one in five children in the US did not reach their fifth birthday” in “Many forget the damage done by preventable diseases” (Associated Press via the Boston Globe.) She reminds us that infectious diseases continue to pose a threat to the health and lives of children, providing deeply personal stories of families dealing with the aftermath of polio and congenital rubella syndrome. Here’s a link to a post I wrote last fall on this topic.
B. Health care has remade the American economy
The New York Times published How Health Care Remade the US Economy on Thursday. The authors note that health care is the largest employer in small and rural towns, although I think health care is the largest employer in many more geographies than that. They also note that many European countries and Japan have proportionately more health care workers than the US.
Here’s a graphic that shows the labor transition.
Source: DePillis and Zhang, New York Times, July 3, 2025
C. Hacks to lower pharmaceutical costs
The podcast An Arm and a Leg has a two-part series on how to lower pharmaceutical costs. Host Dan Weissman is one part indignant and another part a navigator, and he clearly describes the challenges faced by Americans when they seek to fill their prescriptions. Part One Part Two
D. Caring for a post-op spouse
Author and humorist David Sedaris describes caring for his husband after hip surgery in Your Hip Surgery, My Headache in the current issue of the New Yorker. The relevance to employer-sponsored health insurance is tangential, but a reminder to us that many with terrible hip arthritis wait too long before getting total joint replacement. Hip replacements are increasingly an outpatient procedure, with exceptionally good results.
Today’s Animal Photo:
A tricolor heron in Wakodahatchee Bird Preserve in Delray Beach, FL in March
A word of explanation:
Most Saturdays, I share some “longform” articles or media stories I’ve appreciated over the previous week. The animal photo, taken by me, generally with an iphone, makes me happy and has nothing to do with the articles I’m recommending.