One day, a California woman woke up to discover her t-shirt soaked in blood. The source? Her breast. She immediately went to the emergency room, and the cause of the bleeding was eventually found to be a benign tumor. However, her health insurance denied the claim, stating that she “reasonably should have known that an emergency did not exist.” Yes, copious amounts of blood flowing from your nipples is really something you want to wait out.
health
How Would Health Care Reform Affect You?
By 9.25.09
Consumers Union has put together a breakdown of the health care bills in Congress to let you see how they would affect you, based on your age and what kind of insurance you currently have (if any). It’s an interesting tool to see what the various proposed changes are.
344 Now 224 lb Reader Featured On TV, In Newsweek
By 9.25.09
Reader Tyler Weeks, who started a blog to chronicle his journey from 344 pounds to his current weight of 224.6, was recently featured in Newsweek and on his local CBS news station for his weight reduction success story. Nice job! Here’s the video.
Great, Your Doctor Is Talking About You On Facebook
By 9.23.09
Apparently the new generation of med students aren’t as concerned as you might like them to be about sharing your medical information on Facebook or Twitter, says Time.
Homes With Cats 8 Times More Likely To Contain MRSA
By 9.23.09
You may have thought you could only get MRSA at hospitals and the beach, but apparently researchers have discovered that it can be transmitted via pets and lead to repeat infections, reports the New York Times. One recent case involved a baby elephant and 20 human caretakers at the San Diego Zoo last year, but at the domestic level it looks like cats (and dogs, but not to the same degree) somehow contribute to cycle of infection at home.
Practice Good Hygiene Or Be Shamed By The White House
By 9.18.09
We at Consumerist understand the importance of washing your hands and practicing good hygiene. We’re also big fans of publicly humiliating people who endanger us with their gross germs. That’s why we love this video of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stopping a press briefing and scolding MSNBC reporter Chuck Todd for sneezing into his hand, instead of his elbow.
Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
By 9.16.09
A new book out by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler—Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks…— looks at the way personal relationships affect your life, including everything from your weight to whether or not you smoke or drink bad beer.
Reminder: Ingesting Silver Does Not Cure Anthrax Or Swine Flu
By 9.11.09
Sure, there are plenty of websites out there touting colloidal silver as a miracle cure for every disease in existence. This would be great if it actually worked. Now that flu season looms and H1N1/swine flu panic has returned to the nation, Consumer Reports Health would like to remind you that no, you can’t cure chronic or communicable diseases with colloidal silver. Plus, it might turn your skin blue.
Get On A Plane, Go To Your Surgery
By 9.11.09
We’re not sure if this is the start of a trend or just some very creative cost-cutting by a few companies, but Business Insurance notes that some self-insured firms are now sending their employees to other states to save money on medical procedures.
Keep Track Of Your Prescriptions With This Free App
By 9.10.09
If you have to take meds, you know that one of the big issues is watching out for potential drug interactions—the last thing you want is to pass out at the supermarket from uncontrollable flatulence and a sudden onset of glaucoma. Consumer Reports has developed My Medication Tracker, a free desktop app that lets you privately keep a record of your medication history (and related costs), as well as watch out for potential interactions.
Why Are Placebos Getting More Effective?
By 9.2.09
Wired Magazine reports that drug companies’ are facing a new obstacle in clinical trials: over the past few decades, the placebo response has gotten stronger. Some drugs, like Prozac, would have had trouble getting FDA approval if their effectiveness against placebos were as insignificant as tests now show.
New York City's Anti-Soda Grossout
By 9.2.09
In the wake of New York State’s failed attempt to tax sugary sodas and juice drinks, the New York City Health Department has come out with a public service campaign to curb consumption the soft way: with the hard sell.
Who Is Profiting From Food Allergies?
By 9.1.09
Slate reports that the numbers of people suffering from shellfish and other food allergies may be significantly overstated. The article traces the source of confusion to a 2004 paper in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that misrepresents the percentage of the population with seafood allergies. For one thing, the authors of the paper were non-statisticians trying to perform statistical work. For another, the survey questions were biased.
WSJ Discovers EECB, It Works On Insurance
By 8.27.09
The venerable Wall Street Journal recently discovered the classic “EECB” technique we’ve been telling you about for years. This time, it’s health insurance companies, an industry so predicated on denial-of-care-for-profit that a few years ago a class action lawsuit based on RICO statute, invented to prosecute Mafia families for racketeering, was able to make significant headway. Lucky for you, email is much faster than the wheels of justice…
Free Health Care Receives Rock Star Reception In Los Angeles
By 8.13.09
The past few nights, thousands of people have lined up outside of the Forum in Los Angeles. a venue that usually hosts basketball games or big arena concerts. Who’s in town to attract such a crowd? Metallica? Green Day? No, even better—doctors and dentists providing free care on a first-come, first-served basis.
By 8.13.09
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Don’t Just Start Randomly Shoving Aspirin In Your Face Aspirin has been getting a lot of good press lately, but please, don’t just start eating it like candy. Talk to your doctor first. Nom, nom, nom. [NYT] (Photo:and parsecs to go)
Attack of the Antibacterial Soaps!
By 8.12.09
Triclosan, a chemical widely used in antibacterial soaps, is turning up in dolphins. The agent gets into oceans after traveling from, for instance, your bathroom sink into wastewater streams. Though 90 to 98 percent of the chemical is broken down before it reaches fresh water, even the small percentage that remains becomes significant due to antibacterial soaps’ wide use.
