Hospitals using their patients’ health and financial records to help pitch their most lucrative services, such as cancer, heart and orthopedic care and buying detailed information about local residents compiled by marketing firms — everything from age, income and marital status to shopping habits and whether they have children or pets at home.
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Imagine if finding out the cost of a particular treatment or procedure at a doctors’ office was as easy as locating the prices of entrees at a restaurant. The menu might read: school physicals – $40; office visit for a cold – $80; diabetes screening – $200.
The latest casualty of the Great Recession may soon be the nation’s elderly. Cuts in government payments for patient care and less construction of new nursing homes are already taking a toll. Add to this the aging baby boom generation and you have a worst-case scenario.
Nearly 60 percent of the public expects the Supreme Court justices to depend more on personal ideology than a legal analysis of the individual mandate in making their ruling on the health-care reform law.
Will it cover your needs? Can you pay for it? Can you afford not to have it?
Don’t buy if the out-of-pocket cost for the coverage would be more than you can afford. Policies differ greatly so know what you are buying. Shop around.
Vermont moves to implement new law that is seen as a “road map” to a single-payer health care system.
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
The use of overnight sleep testing has soared. One reason, critics say: testing is a lucrative business for doctors.
International surrogate-pregnancy business booms. What is Medicare anyway? Five ways to cut health-care costs. And playing Medicare ‘Whac-A-Mole’
The much celebrated, and much maligned, public option may have died in Congress, but it’s alive and well in California.
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
Experts divided over recommendation to screen children for cholesterol
Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
People in state high-risk insurance plans often feel left behind
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Peeking in on your doctor’s notes
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
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