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July 25, 2008 6:02:08 PM CDT

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Stories related to: health care costs

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  • July 2008

    • US Health Care Stinks: Study

      newser  |  Reuters  |  Jul 17, 08 10:33 AM CDT

      US Health Care Stinks: Study

      The US health care system gets dismal grades in a ranking of 19 industrialized countries, Reuters reports. A private foundation looked at key indicators like efficiency and access, and found the US did very poorly despite spending the most money—putting it last on the list. Health-care dollars were squandered on administrative costs and illnesses caused by medical errors. More »

      Tags

      health care  • public health  • health study  • health care costs  • medical errors  • mortality rates

  • June 2008

    • US Insurers Warming to Medical Tourism

      newser  |  MSNBC  |  Jun 30, 08 2:26 PM CDT

      US Insurers Warming to Medical Tourism

      If you’re in need of high-priced surgery, your insurance company might have a plane ticket for you. Insurers are starting to warm to “medical tourism” for the same reason uninsured Americans are: Surgery is significantly cheaper overseas. At least 150,000 Americans go abroad for medical procedures every year; insurance typically covers just a handful, but the number is rising rapidly, MSNBC reports. More »

      Tags

      health insurance  • health care costs  • health insurers  • medical tourism  • Cigna  • Aetna  • Blue Cross

  • May 2008

    • Health Care Costs to US Manufacturers Skyrocket

      newser  |  Los Angeles Times  |  May 7, 08 12:50 PM CDT

      Health Care Costs to US Manufacturers Skyrocket

      The cost of providing health insurance to US workers is rising so fast it can't be passed along either to workers or customers, a new study reported in the Los Angeles Times finds. Manufacturers now spend, on average, $2.38 per worker per hour—more than twice as much as their foreign competitors—adding about $1,500 to the price of a new car. More »

      Tags

      auto industry  • manufacturing  • health care costs  • health insurance costs

    • Health Costs Hurt Insured Americans, Too

      newser  |  New York Times  |  May 4, 08 2:31 PM CDT

      Health Costs Hurt Insured Americans, Too

      Even Americans with health insurance are ducking the doctor these days as health costs rise and the economy stays queasy, the New York Times reports. Family premiums have doubled in recent years, and out-of-pocket costs have gone up, too: “It just keeps eating into people’s income,” said a utility worker in Tucson whose medical bills have risen by about $4,000 a year. More »

      Tags

      US economy  • health care  • health care costs  • income  • health insurance premiums  • health insurance costs  • medical bills

  • April 2008

    • Critics: Nonprofit Hospitals Unhealthily Rich

      newser  |  Wall Street Journal  |  Apr 4, 08 2:20 PM CDT

      Critics: Nonprofit Hospitals Unhealthily Rich

      Nonprofit hospitals are making more money than for-profit hospitals, and that has many critics wondering why they get such sweet tax breaks, the Wall Street Journal reports. Seventy-seven percent of nonprofits are making money, with at least 25 pulling in more than $250 million a year. Many are spending that money on new facilities and executive pay, rather than charity care. More »

      Tags

      hospital  • health care costs  • tax breaks  • nonprofit  • Charles Grassley

  • March 2008

    • Rising Cost of Essentials Slams Poor Families

      newser  |  Washington Post  |  Mar 21, 08 1:35 PM CDT

      Rising Cost of Essentials Slams Poor Families

      The rising price of essentials and sluggish growth in wages mean that inflation is hitting low- to middle-income families hardest, the Washington Post reports. Americans are paying 9.2% more for staples—groceries, gas, health care, etc.— than they did in 2006, nearly twice the pace of the growth in wages. Prices for luxury items—restaurant meals, new cars, etc.—are also rising, but not nearly as fast. More »

      Tags

      gas prices  • inflation  • food prices  • health care costs  • consumer prices  • wages  • middle class  • low-income families

    • Faithfull Shines in Irina Palm

      newser  |  Rotten Tomatoes  |  Mar 21, 08 10:31 AM CDT

      Faithfull Shines in Irina Palm

      Irina Palm , about a frumpy grandmother who resorts to prostitution so she can pay for her desperately ill grandson's operation, is winning over critics, both because of its unsentimental portrayal of the sex trade and because of the performance given by its star, singer/songwriter/actress and '60s icon Marianne Faithfull. More »

      Tags

      movie  • movie review  • prostitution  • health care costs  • independent film  • sex trade

  • January 2008

    • US Health Care Spending Tops Record $2T

      newser  |  Bloomberg  |  Jan 9, 08 4:40 AM CST

      US Health Care Spending Tops Record $2T

      US health-care spending in 2006 increased 6.7% to a record $2.1 trillion—an average of  $7,000 for every person in America. Medicare spending jumped 19%, its fastest growth rate in 25 years, according to the latest government statistics published yesterday in the journal Health Affairs . The Medicare boost was due largely to shifting 6.2 million low-income seniors from Medicaid drug programs to a subsidized Medicare prescription plan. More »

      Tags

      prescription drugs  • Medicare  • health care costs  • Medicaid

  • November 2007

    • Take 2 and IM Him in the Morning

      newser  |  Yahoo!  |  Nov 18, 07 10:43 AM CST

      Take 2 and IM Him in the Morning

      Eschewing traditional practice, a Brooklyn doctor is using the Internet to generate and conduct much of his business, Yahoo News reports. For $500, patients get three yearly examinations from Jay Parkinson, and can email or text him during the business day. "I'm not so much an online doctor," Parkinson says. "I am a doctor who utilizes good communication for my patients." More »

      Tags

      Internet  • medicine  • health care costs  • health care industry

  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

    • 10 Ways to Cut Medical Costs

      newser  |  MSNBC  |  Aug 17, 07 5:38 PM CDT

      10 Ways to Cut Medical Costs

      Avoid financial injury by following these ten tips from MSNBC : Shop for tests. Different labs may vary widely in costs. Negotiate. Hospitals may waive or reduce a co-pay fee if the patient can prove that it's a hardship. Question the necessity of follow-up appointments, X-rays or MRIs. More »

      Tags

      list  • health care  • medicine  • doctor  • blood pressure  • health care costs

    • US Lags in Life Expectancy

      newser  |  Associated Press  |  Aug 12, 07 1:47 PM CDT

      US Lags in Life Expectancy

      The US has slipped to 42nd place in international rankings of life expectancy, the AP reports. Two decades ago, the US was in 11th place. The downgrade is partially due to the fact that the more countries are included in the survey, but rising health insurance costs, skyrocketing obesity rates, high infant mortality, and racial disparities are most likely to blame for putting the US behind most industrialized nations. More »

      Tags

      obesity  • health care costs  • racial inequality  • life expectancy  • infant mortality

    • Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Aug 8, 07 6:37 PM CDT

      Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs

      Scores of prescription drugs are getting cheaper, as name-brand patents expire and open the door to generic imitators. That's bad news for pharmaceutical companies, the Times reports, but it means that an aging population ever more reliant on drugs will be paying as much as 80 percent less for them. More »

      Tags

      health  • drugs  • medicine  • pharmaceutical companies  • health care costs  • pharma  • generic drugs  • brands

  • July 2007

    • Good for the President, Not for the People?

      newser  |  San Francisco Chronicle  |  Jul 25, 07 4:58 PM CDT

      Good for the President, Not for the People?

      Even as Bush knocks “government-run health care,” San Francisco Chronicle columnist David Lazarus points out, he receives a generous helping of it: The president's colonoscopy last week was of course performed by first-rate taxpayer-funded professionals at a taxpayer-funded facility. More »

      Tags

      George W. Bush  • Cuba  • health care costs  • colonoscopy

    • House Dems Call for Expanded Health Care Bill

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Jul 23, 07 9:29 AM CDT

      House Dems Call for Expanded Health Care Bill

      The Senate reached a rare bipartisan agreement to beef up insurance coverage for low-income kids, and now House Democrats are proposing a health care plan with an even wider scope. Their plan yokes the children's coverage to big changes in Medicare, and is sure to heat up the confrontation between the White House and Congress over health care, the New York Times reports. More »

      Tags

      health care  • health insurance  • health care costs  • insurance companies  • medical costs  • child care

    • UAW Gears Up for Contract Talks on Health Care

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Jul 19, 07 9:11 PM CDT

      UAW Gears Up for Contract Talks on Health Care

      The United Automobile Workers Union starts high-stakes contract talks with Detroit automakers tomorrow, at a time when the union counts more retirees than active workers in its ranks—meaning higher health-care costs—and the American automotive industry is in dire financial straits. The talks are being called "the most important in a generation," the Times reports. More »

      Tags

      auto industry  • Detroit  • health insurance  • health care costs  • automaker  • unions  • retirees  • workers

  • April 2007

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