Mar 17 Insurance marketplace enrollment hits 5 million By News Desk More than 5 million Americans have signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s new “marketplaces,” the Obama administration announced Monday. Continue reading
Mar 17 Study finds dramatic increase in painkiller prescriptions for ER patients By Margaret Myers Researchers at George Washington University have found a significant increase in prescriptions for opioidsopioid analgesics, such as Percocet, Vicodin, oxycodone and Dilaudid, despite only a modest increase in visits for painful conditions. Continue reading
Mar 16 Diseases once thought eradicated reappear in the U.S. By Kristin Miller On March 7, the New York City Department of Health issued a warning about an outbreak of measles in northern Manhattan and the Bronx and urged all New Yorkers to make sure they are vaccinated against measles. Canadian… Continue reading
Mar 16 Watch Measles outbreak sparks fear of resurgent diseases By PBS News Hour Recent outbreaks of measles on both the East and West Coasts highlight a larger story about how infectious diseases that had all but disappeared in the U.S. are now reappearing. Why are some of these diseases showing back up? Hari… Continue watching
Mar 14 Turns out Google’s not so hot at predicting flu cases By Margaret Myers It seems that Google Flu Trends, which launched to much hype in 2008, has been off the mark. Continue reading
Mar 11 Watch Deadline approaching, Obama administration takes creative approach to push ACA enrollment By PBS News Hour The Obama administration is getting creative in an intense push to accelerate enrollment in health care, especially among younger adults and Latinos, who trail almost every other demographic group in signing up. Judy Woodruff talks to Politico's Joanne Kenen and… Continue watching
Mar 11 Health care marketplace enrollments reach 4.2 million in February By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News About 4.2 million Americans have enrolled in private health plans through the end of February via the online insurance marketplaces established by the federal health law -- with enrollment jumping by nearly 1 million people last month, the Obama administration… Continue reading
Mar 10 Watch Teaching expectant mothers how eating well translates to long-term benefits for baby By PBS News Hour Continue watching
Mar 10 Uninsured rate drops due to health care law, but signups lag among Hispanics By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index finds that 15.9 percent of U.S. adults are uninsured thus far in 2014, down from 17.1 percent for the last three months of 2013. Continue reading
Mar 10 Doctors monitor patients remotely via smartphones and fitness trackers By Daniela Hernandez, Kaiser Health News With high-risk patients hooked up to “personal data trackers” — a portable electrocardiogram built into a smartphone case, for instance — he and his researchers can track the ups and downs of patients’ conditions as they go about their lives. Continue reading