Many plans have placed specialty drugs in a tier where, instead of a flat co-payment — $20, $50 or some other amount — patients must pay a percentage of the medications’ cost. For people who need specialty drugs, that can amount to tens of thousands of dollars annually.
This Saturday is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. At sites across the region, you will be able to hand in unwanted, unused prescription drugs. During the last Drug Take-Back-Day, Americans dropped off more than 118 tons of unwanted and expired medications for safe disposal. The drop-off centers will be open from 10:00 a.m. to [...]
Berwick on the future of health-care reform. The Economist on the Supreme Court arguments. Sedaris on dental care in Paris.
Errors involving drugs are the most common type of medical errors, harming about 1.5 million people each year. A recent example shows how easily these errors can happen . . .
Several European nations, where universal health care has been the norm for decades, have been waging their own intense debates as they also deal with aging populations and rising costs. Can the European experience cast some light on the American debate over health care?
Even without the health-care reform law, the federal government is changing how it pays doctors and hospitals, from a system that rewards volume to one that rewards quality. . . . “I think if the health care law were repealed tomorrow, it would not change the direction of what is happening in the marketplace.”
KHN compares progress of the health law’s implementation to original projections from 2010.
The White House has released a three-and-half minute video defending the Affordable Care Act.
Julie Grabow, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, recently prescribed an exciting new therapy for a 60-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer — Afinitor made by Novartis. There was a catch, though. Novartis is charging $10,000 per month for the drug
Washington ranked fourth highest nationally in per-capita prescribing of methadone in 2006 (the most recent year for which reliable data is available) and 11th for oxycodone — the two biggest killers.
If you are prescribed one of these drugs, the provider who dispenses the drug to you is required to supply the system with your name, address, date of birth, the name of the prescribed drug and doctor who prescribed it, and where you picked it up.
Federal officials are extending the Dec. 7 deadline for three days for some people who have had trouble enrolling in a Medicare prescription drug or private health plan because of the crush of last-minute sign-ups. Calls to Medicare’s toll-free information line, 800-633-4227 can be made until midnight tonight. “It is critical that people with Medicare who want to make a change in their coverage act today.”
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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