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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: health care costs

health care costs stories: 107 news summaries

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 US Health Costs 
 to Rise 5.7% in '09 

Insurance costs go up for 4th straight year

Sep 4, 08 1:45 PM CDT
(AP) - Get ready for another increase in co-pays and deductibles. A survey being released today found that 59% of employers intend to keep down rising health care costs by sharing them with workers. Costs will go up by an average 5.7% for both parties next year, rising faster than inflation... More »

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health care costs • health insurance • employers • health insurance premiums • Mercer study

Patients Paying $1B in Medical Bills They Don't Owe

Health-care providers engage in illegal practice to get funds

Aug 29, 08 3:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Millions of patients throughout the country are footing the bill for medical payments they don’t owe, BusinessWeek reports. In a practice known as balance billing, health-care providers stick weary patients with the cost of their treatment not covered by insurers. The practice is often illegal, but, according to... More »

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health care costs • patient • doctor • hospital • American Medical Association • insurance providers • balance billing

Man Steals Identity to Fund Heart Surgery

Mentally-disabled friend billed for buddy's $350,000 operation

Aug 22, 08 11:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Chicago man allegedly nicked the identity of a mentally disabled friend to fund a $350,000 heart bypass operation, say police. John Parsons, 57, was sure he would die without the surgery, said a relative; the alleged scam was uncovered after a caregiver began receiving copies of expenses billed... More »

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health care costs • Chicago • identity theft • Medicaid • heart surgery

OPINION

The Win-Win Economics of Medical Tourism

Growing trend of traveling for health care doesn't have to hurt anyone

Aug 15, 08 2:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - The spread of “medical tourism”—uninsured and underinsured patients seeking cheap health care in Southeast Asia or Latin America—has fueled fears that developing nations will divert resources from state health systems caring for their own citizens. But, the Economist argues, “if governments make the best of... More »

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medicine • health care • health care costs • globalization • outsourcing • health insurance premiums • developing world • medical tourism

Many Hospitals Deport Injured, Ill Immigrants

Guatemalan man at center of benchmark case

Aug 3, 08 10:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - The case of an illegal immigrant from Guatemala has called attention to a little-known, but common, practice at US hospitals: the deportation of immigrants without insurance. Injured in a car accident, the immigrant spent years at a Florida hospital before being repatriated by court order, the New York Times ... More »

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immigration • health care costs • illegal immigrant • Medicaid • deportation • Guatemala

 US Health Care
 Stinks: Study 

Huge inefficiencies put American system last among 19 developed nations

Jul 17, 08 10:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • health care costs • medical errors • public health • health study • mortality rates

US Insurers Warming to Medical Tourism

Sending patients to India, elsewhere could save $20B a year

Jun 30, 08 2:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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

Health Care Costs to US Manufacturers Skyrocket

US employers pay double the price foreign companies do

May 7, 08 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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

Health Costs Hurt Insured Americans, Too

More cut back on
doctor visits to save much-needed bucks

May 4, 08 2:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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

Critics: Nonprofit Hospitals Unhealthily Rich

Tax breaks not paid back in community benefits

Apr 4, 08 2:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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health care costs • hospital • nonprofit • Charles Grassley • tax breaks • for-profit hospital • nonprofit hospital

Rising Cost of Essentials
Slams Poor Families

Prices of "core" items are rising twice as fast as wages

Mar 21, 08 1:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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... More »

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

movie review

 Faithfull Shines in Irina Palm

1960s icon plays a grandma-turned-sex-worker

Mar 21, 08 10:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - 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 »

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health care costs • prostitution • independent film • movie review • movies • Marianne Faithfull • sex trade

US Health Care Spending
Tops Record $2T

Medicare jumps record 19% with new drug subsidy

Jan 9, 08 4:40 AM CST
(Newser) - 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... More »

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health care costs • Medicare • Medicaid • prescription drugs

Take 2 and IM Him in the Morning

Brooklyn general practitioner does much of his business in cyberspace

Nov 18, 07 10:43 AM CST
(Newser) - 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,"... More »

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medicine • health care costs • Internet • health care industry • Dr. Jay Parkinson

Clinics Test Prepaid
Health Plans

Flat-rate programs aim to take up slack for uninsured, underinsured

Oct 22, 07 2:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Primary care is increasingly out of reach for patients and unprofitable for physicians, but a prepaid plan at a walk-in clinic could provide a solution, one doctor says. Vic Wood charges a monthly fee for basic and urgent care, allowing his practice to stay afloat and his uninsured patients to... More »

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health care costs • health insurance • health care industry • doctor • health care reform • primary care

White House Ready to Deal on Kids' Health

Leavitt says he'll work with Democrats
on insurance bill

Oct 7, 07 3:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - The White House will work with Democrats toward a compromise on children's health insurance, Health Secretary Michael Leavitt said today. "If it takes more money, we'll put it up," he said, though he didn't specify how much. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi is trying to get the 14 GOP votes... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • health care costs • SCHIP • health care reform • children's health care • Mike Leavitt • health secretary

House Passes
Children's Health
Insurance Bill

Bush to veto measure despite GOP support

Sep 26, 07 3:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - A bill to boost spending on children's health insurance by $35 billion sailed through the House yesterday 265-159, despite President Bush's repeated threats to veto it. The Senate is likely to approve the bill next week. The bill would increase the current children's health insurance program by $7 billion a... More »

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health care costs • health insurance • health care industry • universal health care • health care reform • children's health care

Health Insurance Premiums Soar

Costs outpace
wage hikes for
8 years running

Sep 12, 07 1:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Health insurance premiums zoomed 6.1% this year, far outrunning inflation and worker earnings, a new study has found. Since 2001, premiums for family coverage have risen 78% percent, while wages have increased by only 19% and inflation by 17%, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows. Still, this year's hike... More »

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inflation • health care costs • health insurance • wages • insurance • health insurance premiums • premiums

10 Ways to Cut Medical Costs

Hospital and med bills don't have to cost an arm and a leg.  Lower your blood pressure with these tips from MSNBC.

Aug 17, 07 5:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Avoid financial injury by following these ten tips from MSNBC:
  1. Shop for tests. Different labs may vary widely in costs.
  2. Negotiate. Hospitals may waive or reduce a co-pay fee if the patient can prove that it's a hardship.
  3. Question the necessity of follow-up appointments, X-rays or MRIs.
... More »

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

US Lags in Life Expectancy

America places 42nd, behind most developed countries; inequality, obesity blamed

Aug 12, 07 1:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - 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,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
obesity • health care costs • infant mortality • life expectancy • racial inequality

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