Shortage of lab workers could threaten health system The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Landro reports that health experts are worried about a growing shortage of medical lab professionals. Landro writes: “Like the growing shortages of primary-care doctors and nurses, the shrinking ranks of skilled lab workers pose a potential threat to the safety and quality [...]
How serious is the health industry’s vow to cut costs? Yesterday, industry executives representing doctors, drug and medical device makers, hospitals and insurers as well as health-service workers met with President Barack Obama and promised to slow the rise of health costs. If these promised savings were to be realized, it is estimated it would [...]
Health care industry says it can control soaring costs Representatives of doctors, drug makers, insurers and health-care unions met with President Barack Obama Monday and promised that they could control health-care costs, saving the average family of four $2,500 a year in five years and the nation $2 trillion in ten years In a letter [...]
Healthcare reform expected to boost company wellness programs New York Times reporter Robert Pear writes today that Congress is planning ”to give employers sweeping new authority to reward employees for healthy behavior, including better diet, more exercise, weight loss and smoking cessation.” Currently “a web of federal rules limits what employers and insurers can do now,” Pear writes. Supporters [...]
Did the U.S. overreact to the H1N1 swine flu? Health experts interviewed by Washington Post reporter Rob Stein say they are generally pleased with the response of state and federal health agencies to early reports out of Mexico of a new flu virus that was killing an alarming number of young, healthy adults. “If what [...]
Six in ten Americans have delayed or skipped receiving medical care because of concerns about costs, a new survey has found. The survey, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that four in ten of those survey reported they had relied on home remedies or over-the-counter non-prescription drugs rather than going to see a doctor.
Nationwide, one in five U.S. workers lacks health insurance, according to a new report by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Overall, 45.7 million Americans, 22% of men and 18% of women, are now uninsured, the study found. The report—At the Brink: Trends in America’s Uninsured—compared average health insurance rates from 1994-1996 and with average figures from [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
By Mark Ganz It is encouraging to have President-Elect Obama declare that we cannot allow these tough economic times to postpone health care reform. His position mirrors what a recent Regence poll found: People want health care reform now, especially those who must find their own insurance. Our nation’s mounting job losses are throwing thousands [...]
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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