Getting Off the Patient Treadmill
Blueridgenow.com February 20, 2009
During medical school, I learned about randomized clinical trials. Every experimental drug went through three types of clinical trials before approval. There were Phase I clinical trials which tested for toxicity and dosing. Phase II trials then examined optimal dosing and efficacy. Finally, Phase III trials compared the efficacy of the new drug with the current “gold standard” treatment.
Fate of 160000 children uncertain in CHIP debate
Houston Chronicle, United States January 24, 2009
Only half of Texas private-sector employers offer insurance, and among small businesses, the percentage drops to 34, the federal government reports. ...
Few laid-off workers keep health insurance, report says
www.CNN.com January 23, 2009
Only about one in 10 workers who lose their job opt to keep their employer-sponsored health insurance through the safety-net program COBRA, most likely because the premiums are too expensive, according to an analysis released Friday by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports independent research on health care issues.
Economy Changing The Way People Deal With Illness
FORT WORTH CBS 11 News January 15, 2009
According to the U.S. Census Beurou, sixty-nine percent of working Texans do not have health insurance. Officials expect those numbers to increase as the state of the economy continues to worsen.
House votes health insurance for 4M more children
PHYSORG Januiary 15, 2009
(AP) -- Making a down payment on President-elect Barack Obama's promise of universal health coverage, the House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to expand government-sponsored insurance to 4 million more children in working families with income too high to qualify for Medicaid.
COBRA Too Costly for Many Unemployed, Report Finds
Washington Post - Saturday, January 10, 2009
The cost of buying health insurance for unemployed Americans who try to purchase coverage through a former employer consumes 30 percent to 84 percent of standard unemployment benefits, according to a report released yesterday.
Report: Texas last in percentage of uninsured children
Valley Morning Star - Jan 06 2009
Texas continues to lag behind the rest of the nation in children's health, ranking last in the percentage of uninsured children and 44th in childhood poverty rates, according to a new report.
Hospital expands insurance options
The Marshall News Messenger - Jan 06 2009
Good Shepherd Medical Center Longview announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with HealthSmart and Aetna to allow about 13,000 East Texans whose health insurance is managed by those companies to choose which Longview hospital they use without having to pay more.
Putting a price on procrastination
David Laibson knows that when he procrastinates, mere deadlines are not always enough to get him going. So, when this Harvard economics professor collaborates on a major project, he'll sometimes promise to deliver a finished product by a certain date -- or else pay his co-authors 500$
CNN.com
December 30, 2008
Dental Select and The Hartford Partner to Offer Dental and Life Insurance Benefits in Utah, Texas and Nevada
In addition to the financial protection offered by The Hartford’s life insurance, employees covered by the Dental Select plans will have access to estate planning tools, travel assistance services, and emotional, financial, and legal counseling to help after a loss.
finance.yahoo.com
December 17,2008
Health care reform up in air as economy sinks
Phyllis Smith, a 60-year-old uninsured seamstress in Yantis, Texas, goes without medications for high blood pressure and diabetes because she can't afford a visit to her doctor to get her prescriptions refilled.
USAToday.com
December 20, 2008
HSA OptionSelf Fund your medical expences with a tax advantaged health plan. 100% Major medical payed for by the helath plan
The new law allows a onetime transfer from an IRA (individual retirement account) or FSA (flexible spending account) to an HSA.
Do you prefer to save money on your monthly premiums in exchange for paying some of the initial costs of your health care services out of your own pocket (known as the “deductible”)? Or would you rather pay higher monthly premiums in exchange for your insurer covering a portion of your costs from day one? With HSA plans you can put the money you save on your premiums into your tax-advantaged savings account to build interest, whereas with a traditional plan, more money is spent on premiums regardless of how much health care you actually use.
www.hsacenter.com
HSA Quotes
Having Individual Health Insurance in Texas May Lower State’s Fatality Rate
The state of Texas has one of the highest death rates among workers. Texas has the highest construction accident rate in the country with more than 520 fatal injuries in 2007.
Bestsyndication.com
December 15, 2008
Plan could revise rules on indigent health care
Idea to use 'assets test' might limit Gold Card eligibility, critics say
The Harris County Hospital District soon may begin including the value of patients' assets, rather than just their incomes, as they evaluate applications for free- and reduced-cost health care.
Houston Chronicle
December 14, 2008
The face of health-care reform
When you balk at the cost of providing universal health care or hear of gridlocked health-care reform, remember Patricia Mackie
Houston Chronicle
December 15, 2000
Employer-based health insurance plans no longer work
It seems clear that change is coming to the U.S. healthcare system. President-elect Barack Obama wants it. Congress wants it. Even the insurance industry says the time is ripe to do things differently.
Los Angeles Times
December 10, 2008
Study: Illegal immigrants' care costs state $677 million
The state of Texas and local hospital districts spent an estimated $677 million to provide health care to illegal immigrants in a year, a new study says.
Chron.com
December 11, 2008
Lack of Insurance, Hospital's Experience in Treating Sickle Cell Affect Outcomes for People With Disease, Study Finds
People hospitalized for complications related to sickle cell disease are more likely to die if they lack health insurance or if the facility sees few patients with the disorder, according to a report presented Saturday at the American Society of Hematology annual conference, Bloomberg reports.
Kaisernetwork.org
December 10, 2008
Increasing Unemployment Contributing To Rising Ranks Of Uninsured
The rising rate of unemployment has contributed to an increase in the number of uninsured people because workers who lose their jobs often lose their health benefits, the New York Times reports. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 10.3 million U.S. residents were unemployed in November, an increase of 36%, or 2.8 million people, since January of this year, and 71%, or 4.3 million people, since January 2001.
Medicalnewstoday
December 9, 2008
Short Term Medical
Health care reform from the grass roots
In another signal that health care reform is a top priority for President-elect Barack Obama, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has begun organizing Americans even before being formally announced as Obama’s pick for secretary of health and human services .
news.yahoo.com
December 5,2008
Legionnaires' bacteria found at UTMB
The bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease has been discovered in the water system of The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston,
KHOU.com
December 5, 2008
Medicare, Social Security Owe $52Trillion
Medicare and Social Security currently owe up to $52 trillion to people who have already earned these benefits, a figure that's up to 3.5 times greater than the entire U.S. economy ($14 trillion), according to a National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) study released this week .
Medicinenet.com
December 4, 2008
Health care hardships: Lack of insurance is biggest issue in health care
Health care and insurance are just two of the many issues that residents in the area are trying to decide on as the two presidential candidates try to solve the skyrocketing prices of heath care and the problems caused by nearly 50 million Americans without insurance.
Kingwood Observer
November, 29 2008
What does a health crisis look like? See Houston
Ijeoma Onye awoke one day last month short of breath, her head pounding. Her daughter, Ebere Hawkins, drove her 45 minutes from Katy, Texas, to Ben Taub General Hospital, where people without health insurance pay little or nothing for treatment.
Onye, 62, waited four hours to be seen. Still, going to the emergency room was faster than getting an appointment. For that, "you have to wait months," Hawkins says.
USATODAY
Let's Get America Covered!
Forty-six million Americans, including 9 million children, are living without health care coverage..
covertheuninsured.org
Can you get your children insured? Find out at no cost. Health Insurance Quote
Democrats’ Health Proposals Will Yield an Unaffordable Nationalized System
"Liberals think the political moment has finally arrived to achieve what has eluded every other Democratic President from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton"--a universal government-run health care system--but the proposals offered by President-elect Barack Obama and Montana Senator Max Baucus are "extraordinarily expensive" and will "slowly but relentlessly [grow] the government's share of health spending," according to a Wall Street Journal editorial.
Wall Street Journal
11/20/08
Health Care Overhaul Can Happen If Myths Are Dispelled
While the economic crisis makes it seem as if health care reform will be impossible to achieve, "it may be more doable than you think, provided we dispel a few myths about how health care works and how much reform Americans are willing to stomach," write Shannon Brownlee, a visiting scholar at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, and Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and chairman of the center's Department of Bioethics, in a Washington Post op-ed.
Washington Post
11/23/08
Put health care costs under the knife
Sharon Alt remembers receiving a panicked phone call from her daughter three years ago. Her then-22-year-old daughter, uninsured and in excruciating pain from an infection, was about to receive treatment in the emergency room.
Dallas News
November 26, 2008
Put your expensive health policy under the knife. Let us review it and see if we can save you money. Health Insurance Quote
Survey says workers will pay more in health costs
Houston Chronicle
November 19, 2008
Daschle to take health post, another familiar face
Houston Community Newspapers
November 16, 2008
Moving Forward on Health Care
Time
November 12, 3008
High costs blamed for uninsured
Mysanantonio.com
Navember 20, 2008
Most uninsured Texas children have working parents
Statsman
October 30, 2008
Many uninsured are very good procrastinators. Make a decision and commitment now. Health Insurance Quote
Health Insurers Offer to Accept All Applicants, on Condition
New York Times
November 19, 2008
|
|
