Washington must cut 36,000 from its basic health plan Seattle Times health reporter Kyung Song writes in today’s paper about options state officials are considering on how to cut 36,000 enrollees from the state’s Basic Health Plan. Currently, the plan provides health coverage to 100,000 low-income state residents, but because of the state’s revenue shortfall, [...]
Washington state spends more than 15 percent of its budget coping with problems due to tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, according to a new study. The study, conducted by National Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse, a private group at Columbia University in New York City, found that in 2005, the latest year for which [...]
The battle over health-care reform has taken to the airwaves, reporters at New York Times and the Wall Street Journal write in today’s papers. Health Care for America Now, a group that wants Congress to pass comprehensive health reform that guarantees universal coverage, is running ads that push for a public insurance plan to compete [...]
The Seattle-base Cascade Bicycle Club has created a “map mashup” Web site where cyclists can pinpoint bicycle accidents, thefts and hazards on a map of the Seattle area. The Club says that 75 percent of bike crashes go unreported. The new Web site, www.bikewise.org will help identify crash “hotspots” that pose a danger to cyclists. [...]
While there has been great progress in the fight against many common cancers, progress against brain cancers, some of the deadliest cancers known, has been agonizingly slow. Over the past 25 years, for example, only three new drug have been approved for the treatment of brain cancers, and survival rates remain essentially the same as [...]
U.S. Senator Patty Murray and U.S. Representative Jim McDermott will address rallies for health-care reform in Seattle, Saturday, May 30. Organizers predict more than 5,000 people will attend the Health Care for All in 2009 march and rally, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Edwin Pratt Park (20th Ave. S & E. Yesler Way) [...]
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and other Democrats have proposed creating a federally backed insurance plan to compete with private insurance plans. Anyone could buy insurance from the public plan and no one could be excluded because of pre-exisiting conditions, proponents say. According to a recent survey by the magazine Consumer Reports, 66 [...]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has listed 40 Web sites that the FDA says are illegally selling unapproved products that claim to treat or prevent H1N1 “swine flu”. Under U.S. law, a company cannot market a product with the claim it can diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure a disease unless it has obtained [...]
Staying sharp as you age Benedict Carey writes in the New York Times about the work of researchers who are trying to figure out why some people are able to stay mentally sharp well into their 90s. Carey writes: “The evidence suggests that people who spend long stretches of their days, three hours and more, [...]
Stay out of King County’s “dangerously deep, cold, and swift rivers and lakes” this Memorial Day weekend, King County health officials warned today. Since 2001, one in three of those who drown in King County have drown in May and June, when icy mountain snow melt swells the County’s rivers. “This is a risky time [...]
Creating a “medical home” to help patients cope with chronic and often complicated health problems is really an old idea that is getting a new look as health providers try to find ways to improve the quality of care and reduce medical costs. In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Health [...]
Seattle public health officials have prepared a 12-page comic book that tells the story of the 1918 influenza pandemic through the experience of one family. The 1918 pandemic, also know as the “Spanish Flu” epidemic, killed an estimated 20 million people worldwide. The comic book “No Ordinary Flu” is written for readers of all ages. [...]
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
View Calendar
✔ Subscribe
Add to Google
Seattle Times Health News
Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
Recent Comments