What if, instead of paying hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars each month for health insurance that you may not even be taking advantage of, you paid a retainer of somewhere between $39 to $79 a month to your primary care physician? Some doctors say this kind of service can work out to the benefit of both caregiver and patient. [More]
health care
Study: Only 14% Of Medical Errors Reported By Hospitals
By 1.6.12
In order for a hospital to participate in the Medicare program, it must develop and maintain a Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) program to “track medical errors and adverse patient events, analyze their causes, and implement preventive actions and mechanisms that include feedback and learning throughout the hospital.” However, a new study by the Dept. of Health & Human Services found that only a small portion of patient errors are being reported — and that hospitals don’t seem to give a damn about fixing things. [More]
Bank Of America Decides To Let Foreclosed-Upon Family Stay In House Until Wife Dies
By 12.22.11
At the intersection where Foreclosure Ave. crosses Health Care Blvd. lives a California couple who had to choose between mortgage and the health insurance needed to cover the wife’s late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Until recently, it looked like they would be forced to vacate the house they’d bought 15 years ago, but Bank of America has decided to delay the eviction until after the wife’s death. [More]
More Americans Getting Their Medical Care At Retail Locations
By 11.23.11
A growing number of supermarkets, drugstores and other retailers are opening in-store clinics offering everything from flu shots to dental, vision and general medical care. And the people aren’t shying away from using these services. [More]
Consumers Union: Public Needs Full Access To Database Of Problem Doctors
By 11.14.11
In September, the Department of Health and Human Services removed the Public Use Data File of the online National Practitioners Data Bank after receiving a complaint from a doctor whose history of malpractice claims was published in a newspaper article. Public access was recently restored, but with a whole host of limitations that our cohorts at Consumers Union think need to be removed. [More]
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Health Care Reform Case
By 11.14.11
We all knew this was going to happen; it was just a matter of when. Today, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the appeals in the case to strike down — at least in part — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [More]
Poll: 28% Of Americans Who Take Prescription Meds Resort To Risky Behavior To Save Money
By 9.27.11
With the economy and job market still stuck in “blargh,” more people are making potentially dangerous decisions about their health care, all in the name of stretching their dollar just a little bit farther. [More]
Target Won't Take Sealed, Unused Blood Glucose Meter Back
By 9.9.11
There are two important lessons that we can take away from M’s e-mail about trying to return an unopened, unused blood glucose meter to Target. First: never, ever, ever purchase a gift for someone at Target without also giving them the receipt. Consider laminating it, then stapling it to the recipient’s forehead. Second: when you receive a marketing call, think critically about who could have sold your name, or whether the entire call might be a scam. [More]
Proposed New Health Insurance Forms Seek To Make Sense Of It All
By 8.17.11
Much about the health insurance business is deliberately byzantine, intended to discourage customers from understanding all the fine details of their policies. But today the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new way of labeling insurance policies that would spell out the costs and benefits of health plans in easy-to-understand language. [More]
Appeals Court Rules Mandatory Health Care Coverage Unconstitutional
By 8.12.11
The legal battle over health care reform continued this morning after an appeals court in Atlanta ruled that the portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring Americans to have some sort of health insurance is unconstitutional. [More]
Make Sure The Nursing Home Isn't Dosing Grandma Into Submission
By 8.3.11
A pill is just so much easier. Drug ’em up and shut ’em up. Rather than deal with all the individual needs of elderly persons with dementia in their care, some nursing homes are dosing them with powerful antipsychotics. Not only have the folk not received a diagnosis that the medicine was designed to treat, not only does the drug turn them into zombies their families don’t recognize, but the FDA has warned that using antipsychotics on older patients with dementia nearly doubles their risk of death. [More]
Birth Control To Be Covered By Health Insurance Without Copay
By 8.1.11
Late last month, an Institute of Medicine panel issued recommendations to the White House that birth control, along with a variety of women’s health services, should be covered under the Affordable Care Act. Earlier today, the Dept. of Health and Human Services made its final decision on the matter public. [More]
Health Care Reform Survives First Appeals Court Battle
By 6.30.11
One down… at least two more to go. Yesterday, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati gave round one of the fight over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to the White House, upholding a lower court ruling that a stipulation in the law that requires Americans to purchase health insurance does not violate the Constitution. [More]
Feds To Use Mystery Shoppers To Investigate State Of Health Care
By 6.27.11
Looks like our research-relishing relatives at Consumer Reports aren’t the only ones using mystery shoppers to help with their investigations. A new report says the federal government is bringing on a team of undercover operatives to see how hard it is just to get an appointment with a doctor. [More]
Man Holds Up Bank For $1 And Free Prison Medical Care
By 6.21.11
A 59-year-old man recently walked into a bank in Gastonia, NC, intent on robbing one dollar — no more or less — from the financial institution. Was it because he was aiming low for his first foray into bank robbery? No, he says it was because he needs medical care and the only way he could think to afford it was by going to prison. [More]
AMA: Health Insurers Still Making Errors On Nearly 20% Of Claims Processed
By 6.20.11
Last June, when the American Medical Association announced its finding that nearly one out of every five health insurance claims had been processed incorrectly, it had probably hoped it was giving the insurance biz a much needed kick in the pants. But one year and another AMA report card later, that statistic remains virtually unchanged. [More]
Anthem Blue Cross Holds Off On Plan To Charge $15 To Pay Bill By Credit Card
By 6.14.11
Last week, we told you how Anthem Blue Cross of California had decided it no longer wants to take credit card payments and will soon start charging $15 “convenience” fees for those still wishing to pay by plastic. But now that the California Attorney General is looking into the matter, Anthem has put that plan on hold. [More]
New HHS Rule Hopes To Rein In Some Runaway Health Insurance Premiums
By 5.19.11
According to a recent study, the cost of health insurance coverage for a family of four has soared 131% since 1999. And the insurance companies continue to seek double-digit rate hikes even while profiting from peoples’ reluctance to seek medical care. Thus, as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Dept. of Health & Human Services has just issued a new to help define what constitutes an unreasonable health insurance rate increase. [More]
