Category: Health-care Policy
Do you think healthcare reform leave you better off—or worse off? How you and other Americans answer that question may decide the fate of healthcare reform effort now underway in Washington, D.C., argues Dr Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, in this column. In a recent survey conducted by the Foundation, 38 [...]
More than half of Americans (53 percent) say their households have has cut back on health care spending due to high costs, according to a new survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. To save money, 35 percent they reported they had relied on home remedies and over-the-counter drugs rather than going to see a [...]
The Kaiser Family Foundation has produced a documentary called Snapshots from the Kitchen Table: Family Budgets and Health Care, that profiles several American families who are struggling to make ends meet in the face of high health-care costs. To learn more: Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Web site where you can find a report and additional [...]
The cost of cancer care can impoverish even patients with health insurance. The American Cancer Society in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation have made a documentary about three cancer patients who must struggle to pay their bills. To read our coverage of the report on the costs of cancer care by the American Cancer [...]
The U.S. health insurance system is in a “state of crisis” and the “situation will get worse” unless health-care costs are controlled, according to a new report by the U.S. Institute of Medicine. A weakening economy, rising health care and insurance costs, growing unemployment and declining employment-based coverage are all driving up the number of [...]
The measure permits the terminally ill to request and self-administer lethal medications prescribed by a physician.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, through its Web site KaiserEDU.org, is sponsoring an essay contest for undergraduate and graduate students on the topic of health reform. The essay is to discuss the elements of U.S. healthcare reform that President Obama’s team should focus on this year. Undergraduates and graduates will be judged and awarded prizes separately. [...]
Men in Washington state continue to die at an earlier age, sometimes many years earlier, than do women, according to a new statistical report by the Washington State Department of Health. The analysis found that men in general had higher rates of death from such killers as heart disease, cancer, liver and lung disease, [...]
Gilda’s Club Seattle will host four free lectures in March including a talk on how families can cope with cancer and a talk on the rights people with serious illnesses have to protect them against job discrimination. The lectures are held Thursday evenings at Gilda’s Club on Broadway in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. A full description [...]
Having health insurance may not protect you from the high cost of cancer care, according to a report by Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Cancer Society. The report profiles 20 patients and tells how they’ve had to struggle to pay for the costs of cancer care even though they had private insurance when they [...]
Barack Obama says he wants to make reforming health care one of his administration’s top priorities. Change in health care is certainly needed. There is a danger, though, that the new president will be unduly influenced by political advocates peddling the same tired myths that have dogged the health care debate since the Clinton years. [...]
How do you find long-term care for a family member? And how do you pay for it? In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, reviews your options. A nursing home isn’t the only answer, Dr. Clancy writes: often there are other services, such as adult day [...]
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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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.
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