The economy is sick and in desperate need of a transfusion of new ideas. Everyone hopes that President Obama’s proposals for a revamp of the health care system will prove successful, but in the meantime how do you keep the sick economy from having a negative effect on your own health?

Even for the insured, the cost of copays and other out-of-pocket expenses add up quickly, whether you’re single or have a family. If you’re feeling the pinch, you’re not alone – according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 53% of respondents said they had cut back on their health care to try and save money.

Many respondents reported an increased use of over-the-counter medications or home remedies, rather than scheduling a visit to their doctor. Others said they didn’t fill prescriptions to save money; some even skipped treatment or tests that their doctor recommended.

Ignoring your doctor’s instructions could prove risky if you have a serious medical condition. But no matter health status, you can cut down on some of the costs of healthcare without having to neglect your health. What can you do?

• When you visit a doctor, make sure you’re prepared. Take along all the information the doctor might need, including paperwork and medical records if necessary. Take note of whether your health has changed recently, including energy or weight fluctuations. If you have any questions you want to ask, make a note so you don’t forget them. Being prepared for a doctor’s visit cuts down on the need for repeat visits, and helps save on copays.
• Get your test results over the phone. Most of the time you won’t need to return to your doctor to get test results, so there’s no reason to spend money on the copayment when it’s not necessary.
• Consider setting up a flexible spending account when open enrollment comes around. Flexible spending accounts let you put pre-tax dollars aside to fund certain types of medical expenses.
• Call an organization such as the Patient Advocate Foundation (800- 532-5274) if you have a chronic disease and want some help with getting the most out of your insurance plan.
• If you’re uninsured, then consider visiting a store clinic. In some locations, retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart now run clinics where you can receive routine medical care for about half the price of a doctor’s visit.
• Try and track down locations where you can receive free medical screening. Organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can help you locate such programs.
• Request a quote for affordable health insurance here. Our system is able to connect you with leading health insurance carriers from across the country, and it could save you a lot of money on premiums or health care costs.

photo credit: effekt!

The Obama administration is in the midst of making plans to spend $19 billion on modernizing medical record-keeping systems, but is it going to be enough? Most hospitals are seriously behind when it comes to digital technology, with a full 98% of American hospitals retaining a paper-based medical record-keeping and billing system. And with the debate over Universal Health Care in full swing, it seems that everyone is looking for ways to save on individual health insurance and health care.

According to the results of a new national survey, less than 2% of American hospitals have completely switched to an electronic medical record-keeping system.

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One of the great ironies of the insurance system is that when you’re sick and need the protection of health insurance the most, you can expect to pay a lot more for your premiums. It’s practically one of the certainties of life, like death and taxes, that are invariably true for everyone. But is that about to change?

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It’s not just the unemployed facing healthcare insurance problems, according to a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report compiling research carried out by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota. Nearly 20% of American workers have no health insurance, up from around 14% in the mid-1990s.

During the mid-1990s, one in seven American workers had no insurance. Just ten years later, that figure has increased to one in five workers uninsured, or around six-million more people over the mid-1990s total.

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Fibromyalgia is a devastating disease that causes chronic pain and other symptoms for those who are affected – but it’s a disease with no known cause and no standard treatment. Many people haven’t even heard of the condition, but if that’s the case it’s not because the drug industry isn’t trying hard enough.

Drug Companies’ Hundreds of Millions Help Raise Awareness of Fibromyalgia

Last year, drug industry giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly spent hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to “raise awareness” of fibromyalgia. The companies donated more than six million dollars to non-profit organizations for educational campaigns and medical conferences, too.

That’s more than the companies donated for Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. And only donations made for cancer, depression, and AIDS were higher than the donations made to further the cause of fibromyalgia.

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Japan’s overcrowded, understaffed hospitals are in danger – and so are the people who rely on those hospitals when they need emergency medical care. An elderly Japanese man who sustained head injuries after being struck by a motorcycle waited ninety minutes in an ambulance – while paramedics phoned fourteen different Tokyo hospitals, trying to find a hospital that would accept the man for treatment. All the hospitals refused to admit the injured man, saying they lacked the equipment and staff needed to treat him. The paramedics arrived at the accident site just a few minutes after the 69-year-old man was injured, but ninety minutes and fourteen hospitals later, the man died just a short time after paramedics finally located a hospital that would accept him for treatment. The man died from the shock caused by the loss of a large amount of blood – a condition which the man might have survived if he had received treatment earlier.

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The big healthcare news from the Obama administration over the last few weeks has been that the State Child’s Health Insurance Program will be expanded, but another SCHIP-related change that happened around the same time hasn’t received as much attention.

This change is a reversal of enrollment rules imposed in August 2007 by the Bush administration. Controversial at the time, the new rules made it much more difficult for states to allow certain families to use SCHIP. For families whose income totaled more than 250% of the federal poverty line (that equates to around $50,000 per year for a family of four), it suddenly became all but impossible to use SCHIP. Several states actually sued the federal government over this change, including Maryland, Illinois and Washington.

In May 2008, Bush relented a little by reducing the income restriction to around 200% of the federal poverty line, or about $40,000 per year for a family of four.

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The close ties between doctors and the drug industry are long-standing, but recently health policy experts have been saying that it’s about time those ties were cut. Over the years, many reports of drug companies providing financial and material perks for doctors has caused an erosion of public trust in medical professionals – and experts say that to repair that particular problem, it’s time for doctors to cut ties with the drug companies that provide the kick-backs.

A series of comments made by health policy experts in the British Medical Journal elaborate on the issue, saying that doctors might have to give up the freebies to win back public trust. From inexpensive prescription pads and pens to seminars at luxurious hotels, there are plenty of rewards for doctors who cultivate good relationships with drug companies.

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After being accused of overcharging millions for health care insurance, one of America’s biggest insurers has agreed to a $50 million settlement pay-out.

Hundreds of people made complaints about charges made by Oxford Insurance, and its parent company UnitedHealth Group. The parent company claims that its reimbursement rates are based on “independent research from across the health care industry,” but an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office revealed that it’s actually Ingenix, a research firm owned and operated by UnitedHealth Group, that supplies the data.

This isn’t just a case of conflict of interest, however – it gets much worse.

According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Ingenix has been manipulating the data, allowing UnitedHealth Group’s Oxford Insurance to pay less for reimbursement of its customers.

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Trees are good for your health – they suck up carbon dioxide and release oxygen, help reduce greenhouse gases and provide welcoming shade during the summer. But those aren’t the trees that have recently been in the news for helping to improve the health of many Americans. This time it’s family trees that are up for discussion – and electronic ones, at that.

Importance of Knowing Your Health History

The importance of knowing your family medical history can’t be emphasized strongly enough, according to Acting Surgeon General Steven Galson, whose office has been in charge of a new initiative to promote the use of a website where users can grow an electronic family tree to find out where their health risks lie.

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