Jun 19 Survey finds most Americans who purchased health care on exchanges were uninsured By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News Nearly six in 10 Americans who bought insurance for this year through the health law’s online marketplaces were previously uninsured—most for at least two years, according to a new survey that looks at the experiences of those most affected by… Continue reading
Jun 18 Watch Searching for the holy grail of snake bite antidotes By PBS News Hour Although snake bites are rarely fatal in the United States, every year about 100,000 people die worldwide after being bitten by venomous snakes. A California doctor has developed a nasal spray treatment that may be able to help some snake… Continue watching
Jun 18 A new approach to death by snake By Spencer Michels Despite their notoriety, snakes -- according to some enthusiasts -- aren’t getting the attention they deserve, especially when they bite people, which they do with some frequency. The World Health Organization estimates that between 94,000 and 125,000 people die every… Continue reading
Jun 18 What does it mean to be a caregiver in America? By Colleen Shalby Not everyone who’s a caregiver does so for a living. Many people in the U.S. are long-term caregivers for ailing family members, spending, on average, 20 hours a week caring for loved ones. Continue reading
Jun 18 Thousands of Lyme disease tests unproven and possibly inaccurate, NECIR reports By Colleen Shalby Roughly $492 million is spent on more than 3.4 million Lyme tests in the U.S. each year. But according to the New England Center of Investigative Reporting in a report released Tuesday, that number doesn’t include the thousands of… Continue reading
Jun 17 Insurers choke on price of new hepatitis C-curing pill By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Your money or your life? Sovaldi, a new pill for hepatitis C, cures the liver-wasting disease in 9 of 10 patients, but treatment can cost more than $90,000. Leading medical societies recommend the drug as a first-line treatment,… Continue reading
Jun 17 Insurers take up fight against rising chemotherapy costs By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News Some cancer patients and their insurers are seeing their bills for chemotherapy jump sharply, reflecting increased drug prices and hospitals’ push to buy oncologists’ practices and then bill at higher rates. Continue reading
Jun 16 How one entrepreneur found success over pancakes By Eric Whitney, Kaiser Health News A computer programmer and a kid in a Batman suit walk into a pancake house...it sounds like a joke, but it really happened, and now the programmer, Dave Vockell, has a new product to bring to market. It's an app… Continue reading
Jun 16 Many new patients overwhelmed by health care jargon By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News Health officials have spent much of the past year promoting the Affordable Care Act and enrolling people in coverage. Now they need to help consumers understand the basics of health insurance and how to use their policies, health care providers… Continue reading
Jun 16 How Dr. Heimlich got his maneuver 40 years ago By Dr. Howard Markel In 1972, the New York Times reported that more than 3,000 people in the U.S. choked to death that year, making it the sixth most common cause of accidental death. Up until that time, the usual response upon discovering a… Continue reading