Category: Health Insurance
In cities and counties across the nation, the housing bust has hit health care. In Seattle-King County, the health department in February laid off 37 workers who helped women with high-risk pregnancies. It has already eliminated immunization clinics, child-care nurse visits outside Seattle and outreach to homeless pregnant women with alcohol or drug problems.
Expansion of health care coverage mandated by health reform will push demand for primary care providers sharply upward, and thousands of new physicians are necessary to accommodate the increase, a new study finds.
News organizations published multiple opinions–pro and con- marking the anniversary of the health law, here is a selection from around the country.
The focus of all this attention is the Washington State Health Technology Assessment (HTA) program, which was established in 2006 to determine if treatments are safe and effective, based on the available scientific evidence.
“If you’re a health plan, you either become a care delivery system or an information services compan . . . . The traditional business is dead.”
New poll finds 46% of Americans oppose the new health law and 40% favored repeal.
But 30% say they want the law expanded and 21% want the bill left intact.
Survey also found that more than 40 percent of the respondents said that high costs had compelled them to forgo the care they needed—up from 29 percent in 2001.
Since the healthcare reform bill became law a year ago, the percentage of the media’s “newshole” devoted to covering healthcare reform has fallen to less than 2 percent
“There is an enormous reservoir of expertise and experience in the states,” says Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. “And any federal reform of the nation’s health care system should take advantage of this state-based wisdom.”
Due to GOP opposition, Dr. Don Berwick may not even receive a hearing on his appointment to run Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Both Democrats and Republicans should be dismayed at the sight of a partisan campaign driving yet another distinguished figure out of American government.
The Senate’s failure confirm Don Berwick, M.D. to be Administrator of CMS is more than ‘ignorance in action’, it’s ‘maliciousness in action.’
The average cost of care for a Medicare beneficiary in Seattle is 85 percent the national average. Medicare costs were similar in Tacoma, Yakima, and Olympia: 86 percent, but slightly higher in Spokane where the cost was 91 percent of the national average.
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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