Vidant Health is laying off nearly 200 workers across eastern North Carolina to address a budget shortfall, the health system's CEO said Monday. Dr. Michael Waldrum said in an email that the first steps to eliminate the $18 million budget shortfall during the first quarter of fiscal year 2020 was “to reduce costs, implement operational efficiencies and to discontinue recruitment and hiring for certain non-patient care positions," news sources reported.
No country in the world spends more on healthcare than the United States, or has less to show for it when compared to other wealthy nations. The U.S. spends nearly 50 percent more per capita than Switzerland, the second biggest spender among wealthy nations, but consistently ranks near the bottom on measures of population wellness and life expectancy. Is there a better system, and if so, what should it look like? What role does wasteful spending play in this equation?
In afternoon trading on Monday, Healthcare stocks are the best performing sector, losing just 6.5%. Within that group, AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Quest Diagnostics, Inc. are two large stocks leading the way, showing a loss of 1.4% and 2.1%, respectively.
New investments in privatized Medicare and Joe Biden’s return as the front-runner for the Democratic party’s nomination for the Presidency is bad news for the single payer version of “Medicare for All.”
Public health officials are warning Americans to brace for the spread of the coronavirus, and many are wondering about the best way to prepare — and whether they have enough money to get tested and treated.
In 2018, the year the Republican tax law went into full effect, 12 of the largest pharmaceutical companies spent more money buying back their stock than they spent on drug research and development. The big picture: When billions of dollars became available to the biggest drug companies, their main priority was to juice earnings, along with the paydays of their executives and investors — not investments in new treatments or relief for patients who can't afford their drugs.