I’m working today. A lot of you have today off. But I’d never trade my independent life for a job again. Here’s what it means to be an independent freelancer. It means I get to savor the joy of concentrating on work for a whole day today while the rest of you are at the…
I’ve enjoyed joining the ranks of all the independents who are their own bosses. America has made this, not just possible, but glorious — at least until somebody screws it up. After working for companies continuously for 33 years — since I was 23 — I left my job two years ago. Since then I…
Health care is complex. But Atul Gawande applies his intellect to make it clearer. His email about a research paper on the health effects of insurance is a tutorial on how to summarize effectively. In the New England Journal of Medicine, Atul Gawande and two colleagues published a 6-page survey paper with 54 footnotes on…
Instructions are tricky. You need to be clear and brief, write directly to the user, and most importantly, make sure that the instructions match reality. Based on my experience with health insurance, this a prescription that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts needs, stat. I had previously used the excellent Blue Cross Blue Shield plan from…