Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Replacing health benefits after unemployment

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Jana
on November 24, 2008
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According to Anna Wilde Mathews in The Wall Street Journal (11, 20) Healthy Consumer Column, around 1.2 million jobs have been lost so far this year, pushing a large number of people to deal with losing the health benefits that come with unemployment.

Kathleen Murray, of consultant Mercer, claims that the best thing to do, if possible, is to try to get coverage from a family member’s employer. There is another option called Cobra, the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. This is an employer-sponsored plan.

Several large insurers have been presenting an expanding range of plans with many benefits and prices for consumers to choose from. Mathews also recommends that people with limited incomes try to find out if they or people in their family might be able to access government coverage.

On site medical services for employees offered by some employers

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Jana
on November 24, 2008
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Although many employees are still trying to extend more medical costs onto workers, an increasing amount of companies are furnishing services such as free check-ups, screening exams and prescription drugs. These services can help employees save a substantial amount of money each year. Some businesses are even claiming that the programs will help them save money eventually. 

The trend is catching on since more and more companies plan to reduce their healthcare costs by putting more attention on prevention, which includes complications such as hypertension and diabetes. Employees believe that if employees don’t have to leave work for medical reasons, they will obviously be more productive. Some companies are even opening up fully prepared workplace medical centers which are staffed by physicians and nurses offering primary care-type services. Employees don’t have to pay a fee for yearly physicals or standard screenings at these facilities, and they only have to pay $5 to $10 to be treated for minor illnesses.

Hospital quality program successful for Blue Cross and Blue Shield

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Jana
on November 24, 2008
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The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has been victorious with their hospital quality program. The association revealed at a news conference recently that patient outcomes have significantly improved, and costs have been diminished.

The program has been implemented in 45 states with certified centers containing four categories: cardiac care, bariatric surgery, transplants and complicated and rare cancers. There are 800 programs at 650 hospitals within 45 states.

Establishments using the program have shown a 26 percent lower rate for bypass surgery readmission and a 37 percent lower rated for outpatient angioplasty readmission. All this has occurred within an astonishing 30 days. This was revealed in a study by WellPoint on 41,000 patients. Also, bypass procedure costs at these hospitals came to be five percent less than facilities that did not take part in the study, and outpatient angioplasty costs were an amazing 12 percent lower.

Physician’s plan for more access and affordability of primary care

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Jana
on November 17, 2008
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In the Doctor’s Office column of the Wall Street Journal (11,13) Benjamin Brewer M.D. explains that even though people with health coverage with their employers may be currently happy with things as they are, the hurting economy and developing problems in primary care are causing things to get worse. He writes that most people are in accordance that getting everyone healthcare is the right way to go, but the problem is affordability.

Dr. Brewer’s idea is for the government to provide everyone with $365 of their tax money back to use towards primary healthcare. Under this plan the services would be predetermined, but the patient would get to pick the doctor, and the amount would be fixed for a year. He claims that this will cover many things associated with preventive health. With this plan, according to Brewer, a basic amount of service could be provided for all for less than the economic stimulus package.

Mayors and governors push congress to increase unemployment insurance and Medicaid spending

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Jana
on November 17, 2008
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The mayors and governors of the U.S. are pushing Congress to boost the economy by extending unemployment insurance and increasing funding for Medicaid.

They believe that the foremost way to help the economy is to intensify spending at the local level. Some governors are even cultivating a federal spending plan that could amount to $126 billion. The project, which will unfold during a two year period, incorporates $20 billion in federal Medicaid matching dollars in this same time period.

Janet Napolitano (D), the Arizona Governor, spoke in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittee on Thursday to talk about the urgency of having an extended federal Medicaid donation in a second incentive program. She claims that boosting the federal Medicaid match is a must in an age when an increasing number of people require health insurance, as the sagging economy causes them to become unemployed.

Expanding unemployment insurance benefits by seven weeks, or an extra thirteen weeks in states having elevated unemployment rates, is suggested by the National League of Cities.

Health coverage sluggish for N.C. kids

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Jana
on November 17, 2008
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The amount of children without insurance in North Carolina was already increasing by the thousands, as the economy plummeted this year. N.C. is now ranked number 6 in the U.S. for the amount of children lacking health insurance coverage. Surprisingly, most of these children, almost 300,000, lived with working parents.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the advocacy group Families USA released these results last week. These findings increased awareness of perplexing problems concerning how and when children visit doctors. Children with serious health situations such as appendicitis and brain tumors have had to wait to be treated  because they lacked insurance. In these cases, children had to suffer from diseases that could have easily been treated if they had been detected sooner. Meanwhile the cost of care continues to increase.

Numerous parents just do not know that their children are qualified to get health coverage. Almost two-thirds of the children without insurance in North Carolina are eligible for coverage under Medicaid or the state’s child health insurance program called N.C. Health Choice. Medicaid was created by the government to insure the poor, and Health Choice, which is funded by federal and state tax money, is accessible to families with low-income who are not eligible for Medicaid, because they make more money than Medicaid allows.

In summary, more information about insurance eligibility needs to be provided to low-income families who are in dire need of health insurance. Hopefully, this will prevent more children from having to suffer needlessly from devastating diseases.

Cases of diabetes in U.S. jump

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Jana
on November 10, 2008
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In the past 10 years, the rate of new diabetes cases has almost doubled in the U.S. The South had the highest levels. All this was stated in the government’s state-by-state review of new diagnoses.

West Virginia had the highest rate, where 13 in 1,000 adults were diagnosed with the disease. Minnesota, a northern state, had the lowest, where there was 5 in 1,000 cases.

Type 2 diabetes, the form that is linked to obesity, accounted for 90 percent of the cases. The findings reflect geographic trends that occur with obesity and physical inactivity, which are also tied to heart disease. The southern states ranked the worst in these cases as well.

The study was done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and covered most states. Previous studies have given state-specific estimates of diabetes cases, but this is the only one that has charted where the new cases are being diagnosed.

Diagnosed diabetes cases was the only thing asked about in the report. Considering an estimated 1 in 4 diabetics have not yet been diagnosed, the problem is most likely underestimated.

More than 260,000 adults were involved in the study which used a random-digit-dialed survey. The participants were asked if they were diagnosed with having diabetes and when the diagnosis was given.

The yearly rate of new diabetes cases climbed from nearly 5 per 1,000 in the mid-1990s to 9 per 1,000 in the mid-2000s. This data was gathered from 33 states for which CDC had complete data for both periods of time.

The researchers were able to get data for 40 states for the years 2005-07. South Carolina, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee had the highest rates, all at 11 per 1,000 or more.

Study finds that surfaces can transmit colds

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Jana
on November 10, 2008
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Viruses that are left on surfaces can survive two days or longer and infect others, so watch out for those door knobs and TV remotes! Cold sufferers often leave their germs there, according to a new study. The University of Virginia, well known for its virology research, had scientists test surfaces in the homes of people with colds. The results were reported on Tuesday, October 28 at the nation’s premier conference on infectious diseases.

Dr. Birgit Winther, an ear, nose and throat specialist who helped conduct the study, said that doctors do not know how often colds are spread through touching germy surfaces as opposed to personal contact such as actually shaking a person’s hand.

Two years ago, she and other doctors revealed that germs survived in hotel rooms 24 hours after guests left, remaining there to contaminate the next people to stay in that room.

The new study began with 30 adults who showed the beginning symptoms of colds. Rhinovirus, which causes about half of all colds, was found in 16 participants. These participants were asked to come up with 10 things that they had touched in their homes in the previous 18 hours, and researchers used DNA tests to find the rhinovirus. It was found that frequently touched areas like refrigerator doors and handles were positive about 40 percent of the time for cold germs. They tested three salt and pepper shakers and they were all found to be contaminated. Other areas found to contain the germ: 6 out of 18 doorknobs; 8 of 14 refrigerator handles; 3 of 13 light switches; 6 of 10 remote controls; 8 of 10 bathroom faucets and 3 of 4 dishwasher handles.

Then, the researchers intentionally contaminated surfaces with participants’ mucus and then tested to see if the rhinovirus stayed on their fingers when they turned on lights, answered phones and other tasks. More than half of the adults got the virus on their fingertips 48 hours after the mucus was applied.

Reckitt-Benckiser Inc., the makers of Lysol, sponsored the study, although no products were tested during the research. The study, created by doctors with no strings to the company, was done to lay the groundwork for future studies on germs and ways to destroy them.

In another study, the university’s Dr. Diane Pappas and  Dr. Owen Hendley tested toys for germs in the offices of five pediatricians in Fairfax, Va. The results revealed that 20 percent of all the toys showed remnants of cold viruses.

Of course it is well known that frequent hand washing helps to avoid spreading germs.  A University of Michigan study found that wearing surgical masks and using hand sanitizers can help. Obviously, staying at home in bed when you don’t feel well and keeping sick children out of school helps as well.

Increased risk of death linked to lack of insurance

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Jana
on November 10, 2008
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If you are not insured, you should get health insurance to avoid getting a devastating diagnosis that could mean an early death.

David Noonan, in his Newsweek (11, 3) column, writes that “what insurance (and the lack of it) often represents, as numerous studies have shown, is the difference between care and no care, between an early cancer diagnosis and a late diagnosis.” According to one study lead by a John Hopkins surgeon, “what insurance represented was nothing less than the difference between life and death.”

In the study, they found that “uninsured patients were 50 percent more likely to die from their injuries than insured patients.” Noonan writes, “The findings by Haider and his colleagues erase any illusion that emergency care is the great equalizer in our health care system that our differences are left behind when we are rolled through those double doors, injured and in danger of dying.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association begins new plan designed to contain healthcare costs and improve care

Published
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Jana
on November 3, 2008
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In the New York Times (10/18,B2) Saturday interview column, during an interview with Scott Serota, who is the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s president and chief executive, Elizabeth Olson discussed the association’s new “four point initiative aimed at containing healthcare costs and improving care.” Serota said that the association’s new plan is geared towards “the real underlying issue of healthcare reform, “which is that the entire healthcare delivery system needs to be modified.” In doing this, one goal would be that “healthcare costs rise no faster than any other goods and services.”

By “improving the underlying system,” Serota said that the association can get rid of care that is “unnecessary, redundant and, in some cases, even harmful.” Ensuring that everyone has healthcare coverage is another goal. 

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association supports working with “people who are eligible for government programs but are not enrolling” and developing “new products like high-deductible plans to attract people who think they will never get sick” to expand coverage. Serota also said that the association will put out yearly benchmarks to measure “what gets done.”