Seattle Times reporter Sean Collins Walsh writes that Washington’s new computer system for processing Medicaid payments is failing to pay so many valid claims that several doctors and clinics have stopped taking new Medicaid patients until they get paid for the ones they’ve already treated. Others say they soon may need to do the same, or even stop treating Medicaid patients altogether.
In a surprise move, Gov. Chris Gregoire has agreed to pay 85 percent of health-care premium costs for state workers in the next two-year budget, Seattle Times reporter Andrew Garber writes in today’s paper.
For those of us who have looked forward to the day when better health care access is provided to each and every person, it’s a great, new day.
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner explains how the new health reform law will effect you and when the changes will take effect.
Washington state health officials have detected the bacteria E. coli in the water supply of the Riverbend Homesites development in eastern King County and are warning residents to boil their drinking water before use. About 1,600 people live at the development, which is just off Interstate 90 Exit 32 east of North Bend and has [...]
The Boards of Health of five Puget Sound counties and the Clark County in the southwestern corner of Washington state have called on Congress to enact “comprehensive health reform” this year. “Every day we witness the unacceptable impacts our failing health ‘system’ has on the health of the public,” the heads of the five boards [...]
If you want to let your senators and representatives know your views on healthcare reform, you can contact them through their Websites listed below. To contact your U.S. Senators and Representative click on the links below: Senator Patty Murray Senator Maria Cantwell Representative Jay Inslee (Ist District) Representative Rick Larson (2nd District) Representative Brian Baird [...]
Facing a 43 percent budget cut, Washington state’s Basic Health, a state-subsidized health insurance plan for the working poor, will raise rates rather than drop enrollees, the Washington Health Care Authority announced today. Under one scenario that was under consideration to cope with the budget cuts, as many as 40,000 of the just under 100,000 [...]
Umpqua Dairy Products, Co. of Roseburg, Oregon has expanded its recall of its Tin Roof Sundae ice cream products because they contain peanuts from the Peanut Corporation of America, whose plant in Blakely, Georgia has been identified as the source of a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 666 people in 45 states and [...]
Three Washington companies have issued recalls of peanut products due to concerns that they might be contaminated with the bacterium Salmonella. All the companies obtained peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America, whose plant in Blakely, Georgia has been identified with an Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 640 people nationwide and has [...]
Like the rest of the country, Washington State has a health-care crisis: costs are out of control, quality of care is uneven, and many state residents go without coverage. In “Dear Governor: About That Healthcare Crisis“, Edmonds editor and publisher D.J. Wilson has put together a highly readable collection of articles by 20 people with [...]
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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Seattle Times Health News
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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