The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
In a pair of speeches on Saturday, President Obama fired up Democratic party faithful in Ohio and Virginia. He spoke about his plans for — and record on — Medicare, health insurance and birth control. And he vowed that the country “will not go back to the days when insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy.”
Once a month, Dr. Ankush Bansal, an internist, travels to his home in Miami to see patients virtually via computer for three different health care companies. Bansal said he doesn’t think telemedicine will replace practicing traditional medicine.
The explosion of Web- and telephone-based medical services is transforming the delivery of primary health care, giving consumers access from home for inexpensive, round-the-clock care.
But the scope of the nation’s weight problem is much more extensive than tobacco ever was and public health campaigns must address issues as complex as food and beverage choices, television viewing, exercise routines and even the design of cities.
The proposal for state House lawmakers would control rising medical costs by capping a cap on health-care spending and could include a tax on hospitals.
More doctors are being trained, but some say the move could backfire since too many young doctors are going into high-paid specialties instead of primary care, which could exacerbate rising health care costs.
For some unpaid caregivers, caring for relatives comes with little to no support as well as with a cost to their own health and financial well-being. And the need for them is growing.
Accountable care organizations will confront questions, including whether this new model for delivering medical treatment has the muscle to overcome the system’s entrenched incentives.
The chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society has a powerful message for the country: We’re all responsible for overuse of the health care system.
