Would the “American Girl Doll Hospital” accept Medicare and Medicaid patients? This question was posited by a viral tweet  a few weeks ago. My answer? Not if doll hospitals operate anything like American urgent care centers.

Data from CDC released in late December showed that U.S. life expectancy had dropped to its lowest in 2 decades. With an average of 96 excess deaths  per 100,000 people, the U.S. leads all developed nations in deaths that can be prevented by timely intervention, compared to just 83 in the U.K. and 65 in France. COVID-19 deaths certainly contributed to this decrease, but this is not the full picture. While the entire globe felt COVID-19’s burden, some experts suggest the precipitous drop in the U.S. is more so led by our health system’s inability to provide universal health coverage, ensure equitable access, and address administrative inefficiencies. These factors make it harder to mitigate not only COVID-19 deaths, but also other preventable deaths from accidental injuries, drug overdoses, and chronic conditions, such as heart disease.

These […]