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We are a nation of patsies when it comes to health care. We’re paying roughly twice what other wealthy nations pay for medical care that seems no better. (Jim Gallagher, 10/2)

Regulators have been playing a vast and costly game of whack-a-mole since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid 40 years ago. Regulators decide we’re spending too much on something, and reduce or disallow that spending. That budget line item duly drops, and yet health-care spending does not, because some other category has risen to compensate. ... The latest hotness in cost control is called “all payer.” The idea is that without such a system, hospitals and doctors exploit pricing disparities between various categories of payer, with governments generally paying less and private insurers paying more. ... Vermont, having tried and failed to build a single-payer system, is now prepared to embark on a new experiment with all-payer. (Megan McArdle, 9/30)

Serious candidates for office don’t normally shun golden opportunities to outline their policies for an attentive audience. So when the New England Journal of Medicine invited the two top presidential candidates to describe their goals and plans for American healthcare in their administrations, Hillary Clinton jumped at the chance. Donald Trump didn’t respond at all. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/30)

When Donald Trump challenged Hillary Clinton to a medical records disclosure throwdown not long ago, my colleague Margot Sanger-Katz wrote an article pointing out that there’s often no such thing as a complete medical dossier on anyone. After all, most of us have seen many doctors over many decades, with details scattered hither and yon. Tracking them down would be a nightmare, the specialists in medical records and technology say. But that kind of quest is my kind of fun. (Ron Lieber, 9/30)

Springsteen has long been committed to social justice; in writing about depression, he has perhaps undertaken a new cause, one that seeks to combat the stereotypes and stigmas about mental illness that still exist today. Struggles with mental illness are common and familiar among rock and pop stars. They include Beyoncé, Eric Clapton, Kurt Cobain, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, John Lennon, Alanis Morissette and Brian Wilson. ... The medical literature, though limited, strongly indicates that being a rock star is a high-stress lifestyle. But Springsteen’s disclosure is arguably unique because his image runs counter to stereotypes of depression. (Alex Lubet, 10/3)

He said he had come to the emergency room to preach. I encouraged him to check into the hospital for care. He refused, and I considered my options. I could allow him to leave, or I could admit him involuntarily. I knew, though, that if we gave him antipsychotic medication, he would realize that he was a homeless man with AIDS. Would he rather stay a prophet? Did he have the right to choose psychosis? Did I have the right to choose for him? (Irene Hurford, 10/1)

In 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced an initiative to hire an additional 1,600 mental health professionals. Two years later, it announced another initiative to expand further the ranks. Last year, Congress passed, and the president signed, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, named after a decorated Marine who killed himself in 2011 after struggling with PTSD. But the bottom line is that despite these initiatives, the VA has not been able to expand its services to meet the need—and the tragic loss of life continues. ... the time is long overdue to face an essential fact: Suicides by veterans have continued unabated, and the VA has not been able to meet the needs of those it serves. It is time for Congress and the administration to take ownership of this issue. (Robert M. Morgenthau, 10/2)

Over the past year, there have been several reports indicating America's health status has taken a turn for the worse. Life expectancy for white women took a small but unexpected dip in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last April. And nearly a year ago, a paper from two leading economists revealed that life expectancy for whites has been declining for nearly two decades, with almost all of the decrease concentrated among men and women without a college education. (Merrill Goozner, 10/1)

There’s an outbreak of a hidden epidemic — unaffordable employer-based health insurance, especially for low-income workers — at Harvard, a place where it should never occur. As medical students at Harvard, we were deeply troubled to learn that our university was proposing changes to dining workers’ health plans that would make essential health care unaffordable. After months of negotiation, the dining workers’ union voted to authorize a strike, which will launch on Wednesday if a deal is not reached. The campus has rallied around the workers, circulating a petition of support signed by 2,500 students, including us, in advance of federal mediation held earlier this week. In the dining workers’ fight with Harvard, we see a microcosm of current challenges for health insurance across America. (Micah Johnson and Sanjay Kishore, 9/30)

Oncologists can only capture a pixelated snapshot of their patients’ health because, on average, they see patients undergoing chemotherapy for only eight minutes every third week. Can we make use of the missing 30,000 minutes in between doctor’s visits? (Peter Kuhn, 9/30)

“Obamacare never reached pets,” said Doug Hirsch, co-chief executive of Santa Monica’s GoodRX, a price-comparison website for prescription meds that also includes drugs taken by dogs and cats. “They’re very much bearing the brunt of high drug prices.” Pet owners will spend nearly $63 billion this year, according to the American Pet Products Assn. Such expenditures — including food, supplies, toys, over-the-counter medications and veterinary care — topped $60 billion for the first time last year. (David Lazarus, 9/30)

Starting on Nov. 28, placing yourself or your loved one in a nursing home will no longer require signing away your legal rights. Under a breakthrough ruling on Wednesday, regulators for Medicare and Medicaid have barred nursing homes that receive federal funding from requiring residents to agree in advance to resolve disputes in arbitration, instead of in court. The end of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts means the end of a pervasive practice that has long shielded nursing homes from liability for claims involving neglect, abuse, harassment, assault and wrongful death. (Teresa Tritch, 9/30)

Bill Gates and Abraham Lincoln are in agreement. Gates, whose foundation funds the development and distribution of new medicines in the developing world, said the U.S. system “is better than most other systems one can imagine …. The drug companies are turning out miracles, and we need their R&D budgets to stay strong. They need to see the opportunity.” It turns out that Mr. Gates is in good company. Lincoln, the only U.S. President to hold a patent, called the IP system, “the fuel of interest which fires man’s genius.” (Carol Adelman and Jeremiah Norris, 10/3)

The security of medical data is increasingly under threat, especially as health systems across the United States convert patients’ thick paper files into electronic medical records; the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported last month that health data breaches exposed 113 million patients’ records to potential theft and fraud in 2015 alone. (Mary F. E. Ebeling, 10/3)

Sadly, very few people understand – or want to believe – how much good nutrition plays a critical role in their quality of life. They follow the latest fad hoping for the fastest results when science tells us that slow and steady wins the race. It’s rare for people to seek out the expert advice of a registered dietitian for personalized information on how to integrate science-based, simple changes for better health. (Lisa Andrews, 9/30)