Apple, Amazon, and Uber are moving in on health care. Will it help?

Big tech is making its opening moves into the health care scene, but its focus on tech-savvy millennials may miss the mark.

Apple COO Jeff Williams discusses Apple Watch Series 4 during an event on September 12, 2018, in Cupertino, California. The watch lets users take electrocardiogram readings. (Photo: NOAH BERGER/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google have been busy investing in health care companies, developing new apps, and hiring health professionals for new business ventures.
  • Their current focus appears to be on tech-savvy millennials, but the bulk of health care expenditures goes to the elderly.
  • Big tech should look to integrating its most promising health care devise, the smartphone, more thoroughly into health care.
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Why health care should start long before you reach the hospital

The issues that determine your health go way beyond seeing your doctor.

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  • The average American spends about 24 hours a year at the doctor's office.
  • What you do the other 364 days a year mostly determines your health.
  • Michael Dowling discusses Northwell's focus on environmental, social, economic and other social determinants of health.
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Eggs are again linked to heart problems — though the study has problems

Though eggs are back on the menu, some are trying to rewrite the script.

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  • A new study at Northwestern University found a link between egg consumption and cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.
  • The research relied on self-reporting at the beginning of observation, with no follow-up reporting.
  • Correlation is likely, not causation, as larger studies have found the opposite to be true.
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Teens should be able to get vaccines without consent from parents, say NY lawmakers

A bill in New York would let older kids get vaccinations against their parents' wishes.

Ethan Lindenberger (R), student at Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Ohio before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 5, 2019. (Photo credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Teens 14 and older should be able to get vaccinated on their own, says a new bill in New York.
  • Lawmakers were inspired by Ethan Lindenberger, an Ohio teen who fought to take vaccines against his mom's wishes.
  • Anti-vaccination attitudes have been blamed for recent measles outbreaks.
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The unexpected cost of living for a very long time

100 years ago, you could expect to live to 54. Our luxurious, 80-year-long lives come at a cost.

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  • Medical advances have increased our longevity by decades, says Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health. That benefit comes with an unintended disadvantage – high costs.
  • Bringing the overall cost of health care down is near impossible, as an increased life expectancy brings new diseases and procedures with it.
  • Reducing the out-of-pocket cost is a separate issue, however. It is possible and necessary to lower costs so they don't become a barrier to people seeking care.
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