[jal278]

I liked the discussion about "'silos' in health policy, meaning that we see crime and low educational achievement as distinct from medical problems like obesity or heart disease."

It seems like medicine needs to be less short-sighted and integrate loneliness and nutrition and other non-medicinal factors into diagnoses and treatment.

[GFischer]

There was a top article recently on how personal visits for chronic patients improves health A LOT:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/28/i...

it's clearly linked to the problems of loneliness - if patients form a bond with their nurse and know that someone cares, they're more likely to follow through with treatment.