Shopping for lower prices isn't necessarily the first step you need to take if you want to lower your prescription drug bill, says Michael Cohen, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Horsham, Penn. First, review the drugs you take (a good practice once each year regardless, doctors say), to determine whether you still need the drug or that dose and whether you could safely substitute a less expensive option for the drug.
A Read the rest of this entry »
Health care coverage for all West Virginians has long been the Holy Grail of health policy in the state, and if the optimism of advocates and policymakers is any guide, 2009 could see them advance closer to that goal.
With a governor pledging to find coverage for all working residents and a legislative effort to devise a "road map'' for a restructured health care system kicking off in January, the battered national economy and an uncertain Read the rest of this entry »
Yet despite the slowdown, most health-care costs continue to rise, with consumers' out-of-pocket expenses having increased 40 percent in the last 10 years, largely due to an aging population and chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes, a second report found.
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"National health spending declined to 6.1 percent in 2007, the slowest rate of growth since 1998 and 0.6 percent lower than the 6.7 percent growth in 2006," Micah Hartman, Read the rest of this entry »
GATE CITY — A small group of medical professionals met in Scott County last week to take part in nationwide series of meetings initiated by the Barack Obama-Joe Biden transition team to collect ideas for national health care reform.
Held Dec. 26 at Scott County Administrator Rufus Hood’s residence, attendees discussed various ways to solve the nation’s mounting health care problems. After the meeting, those possible solutions were Read the rest of this entry »
Cuts in inpatient detoxification reimbursements of $96.9 million statewide would also hurt
in East Meadow and Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, he said.
Daniel Sisto, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals and nursing homes statewide, said the proposed cuts would be especially painful since hospitals had already had two cutbacks of a total of $1 billion this year. "You can't just keep coming Read the rest of this entry »
Japan emperor turns 75, pledges to care for family
TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese Emperor Akihito turned 75 on Tuesday, pledging to work for the betterment of the imperial family as his worries about the state of the world's oldest monarchy inflict a toll on his own health.
Akihito, who next year marks 20 years on the Chrysanthemum Throne, cancelled a customary annual news conference and part of the ceremonies for his birthday.
The son of wartime Read the rest of this entry »
NASHVILLE — Although the number of uninsured and the cost of coverage have ballooned under his watch, President Bush leaves office with a health care legacy in bricks and mortar: he has doubled federal financing for community health centers, enabling the creation or expansion of 1,297 clinics in medically underserved areas.
For those in inner-city neighborhoods and isolated rural areas, including Indian reservations, the clinics are often the Read the rest of this entry »
Bringing a blend of seasoned public health advocacy and regulatory
know-how, the MARC health care team complements and broadens our health care
practice group's policy experience. The team is well respected before the
U.S. Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services, including the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality, and the National Institutes of Health. The team includes a former
CMS Read the rest of this entry »
"In issuing this midnight regulation, the Bush Administration has once again rejected medical and sound science in favor of misguided ideology that has no place in our government. The Administration has ignored the opposition of the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Hospital Association, Members of Congress, and hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens and practitioners who made Read the rest of this entry »
Like many residents of Atlantic County, Sue Boisvert was blindsided when she received a letter telling her the family medical practice she had used for years was shutting down.
Boisvert, who lives in Mays Landing, received a letter sent out in November stating that AtlantiCare Family Medicine in Egg Harbor City was closing at the end of the year. The patients were told their records were being sent to the family medicine center in Hammonton, Read the rest of this entry »