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 [...]
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 [...]
The measure permits the terminally ill to request and self-administer lethal medications prescribed by a physician.
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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