health care

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Patients Have Bone to Pick With Squeaky Fake Hips

Noisy ceramic joints worry doctors

(Newser) - Ceramic artificial hips are far more durable than their metal and plastic counterparts—but frustrated patients are complaining that they squeak. It's embarrassing. “It can interrupt sex when my wife starts laughing,” said one. But some doctors fear it could be a sign that the ceramic replacements aren’...

Spain Opens Second Life Clinic for Teens

Virtual doctor's office welcomes those who hate the real thing

(Newser) - Spanish health officials are opening a virtual clinic in the popular online world Second Life, where they plan to advise teens who are too shy to consult flesh-and-blood doctors, the Guardian reports. It will appear as a consultation room for now, but officials hope to expand the service and eventually...

Illegal Workers Must Rely on Healers, Home Remedies

Farm workers without health care shun doctors, hospitals

(Newser) - Faced with high medical costs and fearing deportation, many illegal immigrants avoid doctors and instead seek their cures among traditional healers, the New York Times reports. With an estimated two-thirds of illegal immigrants uninsured, visits to a doctor are often reserved for emergencies. Instead, the immigrants—most of whom toil...

Slow Medicine Lets Elderly Go More Gracefully

Approach prefers less aggressive stance in fighting signs of aging

(Newser) - In a medical culture seemingly aimed at reviving and resuscitating, the slow medicine approach instead allows elderly patients to weigh the risks and burdens of treatment against the likelihood that it will significantly extend their lives. For many seniors, the philosophy offers the freedom to choose comfort over cure, dying...

Health Costs Hurt Insured Americans, Too

More cut back on doctor visits to save much-needed bucks

(Newser) - Even Americans with health insurance are ducking the doctor these days as health costs rise and the economy stays queasy, the New York Times reports. Family premiums have doubled in recent years, and out-of-pocket costs have gone up, too: “It just keeps eating into people’s income,” said...

Bypass Surgery Shows Promise as Diabetes Fix

Variation on obesity procedure has led to remission

(Newser) - Intestinal bypass surgery—a variation on the gastric surgery used to combat obesity—is showing surprising and promising results in treating diabetes, the Washington Post reports. Cutting out some of the intestine but sparing the stomach, the procedure is  producing full remission in a high percentage of cases, allowing patients...

McCain Pitches Bigger Fed Role in Health Care

More choice means more competition, candidate contends

(Newser) - John McCain unveiled a new health care plan today, urging a larger role for the government while denouncing universal coverage, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The presumptive GOP nominee wants state nonprofit risk pools that would help those without coverage or unable to pay for it. He said, “I...

More Say 'I Do' for Health Plans
 More Say 'I Do' for Health Plans 
Apr 29, 2008 10:12 AM CDT

More Say 'I Do' for Health Plans

About 7% marry to get coverage as costs soar

(Newser) - Health-insurance worries have gotten so serious they're pushing some Americans up the aisle, the Los Angeles Times reports. In a new survey, 7% of people said they or somebody in their household had married in the last year to get health benefits. The survey also found that health-care worries trumped...

Mental Disorders Huge Issue for US Troops

300K have depression or stress from combat, and half don't seek help

(Newser) - 300,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have either post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, and another 320,000 suffered brain injuries, the AP reports. RAND Corporation, in the first private evaluation of mental injury from the conflicts, found 18.5% of combat troops suffered from major depression...

Web Health Records Raise Privacy Fears

Top docs say Internet health ventures could bring 'seismic change'

(Newser) - Medical researchers worry that Internet giants’ ventures into personal health records could turn the system on its head, threatening individual privacy, the New York Times reports. Two experts warn that companies like Microsoft and Google, whose new services put patient information on the web, aren’t subject to standard healthcare...

Manufacturing's Unemployed Find Work at the Hospital

The healthcare sector's growth could help mitigate US slowdown

(Newser) - American communities once reliant on the manufacturing industry are increasingly being supported by the growing healthcare sector, the Wall Street Journal reports. Over the past 10 years, the former paper-mill town of Bangor, Maine, lost 3,700 factory jobs—but gained 3,500 healthcare jobs, a hopeful sign for an...

Boomers Will Overrun Health System: Study

Aging US already low on doctors, others with geriatrics training

(Newser) - America’s healthcare system isn’t prepared to handle the wave of aging baby boomers about to hit, according to a sweeping government report released today. As that huge generation enters its 60s, the industry faces crisis-level workforce shortages, the Los Angeles Times reports. “There will never be enough...

Insurers Quietly Hike Rx Costs
Insurers
Quietly Hike
Rx Costs
Apr 14, 2008 9:47 AM CDT

Insurers Quietly Hike Rx Costs

Plans slip in soaring co-pays for most expensive drugs

(Newser) - Pricey prescription drugs are getting pricier, and, the New York Times reports, insurance companies are asking patients to shoulder more of the burden. Insurers are quietly phasing out traditional drug plans, which charge a fixed co-pay of $20 or $30 to fill a prescription, in favor of so-called Tier 4...

Elizabeth Edwards Sides With Clinton on Health Care

Former candidate's wife also joins Clinton loyalist think tank

(Newser) - Elizabeth Edwards said this morning she has “more confidence in Senator Clinton’s policy than Senator Obama’s” on health care, fueling speculation that the famous political spouse could endorse Hillary in the Democratic presidential race. Edwards has also become a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress,...

Hillary Dumps Another Tall Tale

Hospital contradicts her health care horror story

(Newser) - Another story Hillary Clinton has told repeatedly on the campaign trail turns out to be untrue, CNN reports. This one is about a pregnant woman from Ohio who dies after being turned away from a hospital because she has no health insurance. A spokesman for the hospital has denied the...

Clinton Pitches Cap on Health Insurance

Proposes to limit premiums to 5-10% of median income

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton has proposed putting a cap on premiums in her universal health care plan, limiting them to between 5% and 10% of family income, the New York Times reports. The average cost of a family policy bought by an individual last year was $5,799, or 10% of median...

Pro-Life Docs Need Not Perform Abortions: Board

Body clarifies ruling that had feds, physicians worried about certifications

(Newser) - Obstetrician/gynecologists who don’t want to deal with abortions don’t have to, the certifying board for their specialty said today, responding to Bush administration fears that the board was going to refuse to certify doctors who decline to perform them or refer patients to someone who does. The US...

SF Healthcare Tab Lands on Diners' Checks

Restaurateurs balk at measure to fund universal coverage

(Newser) - Sweeping new health care legislation requires all San Francisco businesses with more than 20 employees to contribute to their health insurance—and restaurant owners are suing over the new burden, the Los Angeles Times reports. Owners say the fees cut into already-low profit margins; diners, who are seeing some of...

State Budgets Caught in Economy's Freefall

Spending cuts, tax increases in store

(Newser) - Politicians from New York to California are wringing their hands, wondering whether to cut spending or raise taxes. As the economy barrels towards recession, income and sales taxes are coming in well below expectations, and about half the states in the country are facing budget shortfalls, the New York Times...

Iraq Still Lacks Clean Water, Health Care

Medical system worse than ever at 5-year mark, says Red Cross

(Newser) - Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, its health care system is “now in worse shape than ever,” and millions of Iraqis still don’t have clean water and medical care, Reuters reports. “The humanitarian situation in most of the country remains among the most critical...

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