Category: Columns
Book Review: If last year’s attacks on the health-care reform law seemed familiar, it’s because you’ve seen same the tactics before, writes Wendell Potter in his new book “Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans”.
If you need dialysis for advanced kidney disease, where you get it could make a big difference.
A large study found that patients in certain large chain facilities are significantly more likely to die than those treated elsewhere.
Mortality was also higher in for-profit than non-profit dialysis centers.
Bad reactions to medications are on the rise:
Between 1997 and 2008, hospital admissions doubled among Americans aged 45 and older for medication and drug-related conditions.
These hospital admissions include the effects of prescription and over-the-counter medicines as well as illegal drugs.
Common problems: confusion, delirium and agitation; narcotic overdose; and symptoms of drug withdrawal from legal and illegal drug use.
Adult immunization rates have inched up in recent years, they are still far below what they should be, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All adults who are age 60 or over should get the shingles vaccine, but just 10 percent of that group had received it.
Likewise, only 17 percent of women between 19 and 26 had gotten even one of the three doses of the human papillomavirus vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer.
The insurance plan for Oregon public education employees encourages enrollees to get care of proven value but charges an extra $500 for services of less certain value including spinal surgery, knee and shoulder arthroscopy, hip and knee replacement and upper endoscopy exams.
That’s what President Obama should tell Congressional Republicans, says Princeton health economist Uwe E. Reinhardt.
His logic: The GOP would have to come up with its own solutions to the health cost crisis, many of which, he wagers, would look much like parts of the current law.
“I think it would be a healthy thing,” he says.
Many retiree health plans will not provide coverage for your young adult children. Health columnist Michelle Andrews discusses your alternatives.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the Seattle area, with snow, gusts up to 45 miles per hour and night-time lows in the mid- to low-20s.
Last night’s wind storm t and the 4.2 earthquake that rattled the south Puget Sound area are reminders to be prepared for emergencies, says the Red Cross.
In a medical office, it often seems like an alphabet soup. It’s hard to know who’s who, what’s an M.D., what’s an RN? ‘How do I know who I’m talking to? — A primer on who’s who in your doctor’s office.
Comparative effectiveness research provides officials with a mechanism to decide who will receive treatment, which in some cases will mean who lives and who dies.
“To be fair, the Republican argument makes perfect sense if you think like a campaign operative.”
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
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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.
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