The powerful Senate Finance committee has just voted down two proposed amendments to Obama’s healthcare reform bill; amendments that would have created a public insurance scheme as a key part of insuring some of America’s 47 million uninsured. Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s amendment would have added a public insurance option that would reimburse doctors and hospitals [...]

The inestimable Shaun Holt has released a survey on placebo usage in general practice. Showing that 3/4 of doctors have used placebos on patients and 1 in 7 do this more than 10 times a year. The Dominion Post has the particularly hysterical headline Doctors prescribe drugs that don’t work. This is probably true in [...]