By Jenny Gold – Kaiser Health News On most days, Kelly Conklin is in his workshop in Bloomfield, N.J., supervising his 12 employees as they design wood accents and cabinets for nearby Manhattan offices. But on a balmy day in June, the 56-year-old Conklin became a lobbyist, if only for a few hours. He swept [...]
Hospitals, After Agreeing to Cuts, Push Ahead With a Full Agenda By Eric Pianin and Phil Galewitz – Kaiser Health News July 08, 2009 With the Obama administration’s help, hospitals are moving aggressively to resolve their biggest objections to legislative proposals to overhaul the health system. The deal announced today by Vice-President Biden — an [...]
New York Times profiles Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative Opponents to a public health insurance plan are proposing private-sector insurance cooperatives as an alternative, and they are pointing to Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative as an example of what such cooperatives can accomplish, writes New York Times reporter Kevin Sack in today’s issue of the paper. Group [...]
By Rick Schmitt – Kaiser Health News July 07, 2009 The YouTube video shows Donna Smith pulling on a white hazmat suit and protective rubber gloves. She is going to work, trying to clean up the nation’s health insurance industry. With a bullhorn in one hand, and a picket sign in the other, she leads [...]
Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy talks with Jacob Hacker, the political scientist whose idea of a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers has been embraced by President Barack Obama. Checking In With Jacob Hacker By Jessica Marcy – Kaiser Health News Political scientist Jacob Hacker created his signature idea for a [...]
By Jordan Rau – Kaiser Health News JUL 02, 2009 A half-hour into “Money-Driven Medicine,” a new documentary that skewers the U.S. health care system for its insensitivity toward patients and excessive spending, a father talks about the doctors who treated his toddler for leukemia. As melancholy music plays in the background and photographs of [...]
By Laurie McGinley and Phil Galewitz – Kaiser Health News July 02, 2009 The hospital industry is close to a deal with the White House and congressional Democrats in which the industry would agree to federal funding cuts of $150 billion to $170 billion over the next decade to help pay for a health system [...]
Which is larger: Medicaid or Medicare? In fact, Medicaid “dwarfs other insurance programs” writes Kaiser Health News reporter Phil Galewitz. To learn more, take his Medicaid: True of False test below: Medicaid: True or False? By Phil Galewitz – Kaiser Health News July 01, 2009 Because of its size and cost, Medicaid has been called [...]
Hot-Button Health Issue: Is Medicaid or Private Insurance Better for the Poor Uninsured? By Mary Agnes Carey – Kaiser Health News July 1, 2009 Medicaid’s role in health reform is emerging as a flash point, exposing policy and political rifts not only between the two parties but also among Democrats themselves. As part of efforts [...]
Checking In With Wal-Mart’s David Tovar By Jonathan Rau – Kaiser Health News July 1, 2009 Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest private employer, has endorsed a health care overhaul that includes a requirement that employers make some financial contribution toward the health care of their workers. Yesterday, the Arkansas-based company released a letter (.pdf) [...]
By Joanne Kenen June 30, 2009 This story is a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post. Doctors call them frequent fliers. They are the patients who leave the hospital, only to boomerang back days or weeks later. They have become a front-burner challenge not only for hospitals and doctors but also for [...]
Health costs can bankrupt even those with insurance Seattle Times Health Reporter Kyung Song tells the story of Mark Moody and Glenda Krull, an Edmonds couple struggling to cover their health care expenses even though they are middle class and have health insurance. Moody’s case is complicated by the fact that he needs a second [...]
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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