• Why would a woman let her breast cancer grow for years without seeing a doctor, until her breast literally fell off? Dr. Otis Brawley, a distinguished oncologist and public policymaker, describes the constellation of racial, historical, cultural, and economic factors that sent a 53-year-old woman to Brawley’s Atlanta ER carrying her breast in a plastic bag. The answers say a lot about what’s wrong with our health care system and our society at large. [Atlanta Magazine]
• Maia Szalavitz builds on the New York Times’ scoop about debt collectors stalking the halls of hospitals shaking down patients with the hospital’s blessing. [TIME]
• Sara Kliff interviews the woman who runs the Massachusetts health insurance assistance line. Kate Bicego may not have a fancy title or a prestigious academic appointment, but she may know more than anyone else about how to implement Obamacare. [WaPo]

[Photo credit: Wander Mule, Creative Commons.]