preventative medicine

9 Stories

Should We Scan Our Bodies to See What Might Lurk?

Preventative full-body scans are becoming more in-demand among the wealthy

(Newser) - "In September when everybody comes back from the Hamptons and they all start getting physicals for the year, I'm sure I'm going to get a lot more requests." What they're seeking, the doctor tells the Wall Street Journal , are preventative full-body scans—meaning ones not...

Health Report: Same Test Can Cost $786—or $1,819

Choice of provider could have big effect on your premiums

(Newser) - Yet another factor that could put a crimp in your wallet when it comes to health care: The cost of procedures such as colonoscopies, mammograms, and Pap smears vary wildly across the nation, according to a new report picked up by USA Today . Researchers found that colonoscopies, for instance, could...

Health Reform Side Effect: Free Birth Control?

Does contraception count as preventative care?

(Newser) - Here's the next big dogfight over health care reform: Whether the federal government is obligated to provide free birth control to American women. A panel will next month decide what falls under preventative care, and if contraception is determined to fit the bill, under Obamacare the feds must foot the...

Welcome to the Conspiracy to Ration Mammograms
Welcome to
the Conspiracy
to Ration Mammograms
Gail Collins

Welcome to the Conspiracy to Ration Mammograms

Don't you dare deny us unnecessary tests!

(Newser) - Republicans are right: the new government guidelines urging women not to have mammograms in their 40s are definitely a nefarious conspiracy to start rationing care. “Whatever happens, we do not want the government conducting any studies on whether current health practices actually do any good,” writes Gail Collins...

New Mammogram Advice Not US Policy: Sebelius

'These recommendations are not ours,' HHS Secretary asserts

(Newser) - The recommendation from the US Preventative Services Task Force that women in their 40s should not get mammograms is not government policy, said the secretary of Health and Human Services. Kathleen Sebelius tried to tamp down some of the controversy that has followed the panel’s decision, asserting that government...

Get a Checkup or Lose Your Insurance

One company tries forcing employees to get preventative care

(Newser) - How far can a firm go to improve the health of its employees? AmeriGas Propane's insurance costs were rising, its work force was aging, and its employees weren't getting preventative care. The company began voluntary programs to encourage healthy behavior that didn't work. So AmeriGas gave its workers a simple...

Study May Help Mastectomy Dilemma

Research identifies factors likely to imperil second breast

(Newser) - Researchers alarmed by a spike in potentially unnecessary double mastectomies have identified three risk factors that might help breast cancer patients make better decisions about whether to have a healthy breast removed, the Houston Chronicle reports. The research was motivated by an earlier study that revealed 80% of women who...

You Say 'Tomato,' FDA Says 'Not a Cancer Cure-All'

Study shows no link between lycopene and reduced risk of many types of the disease

(Newser) - Tomatoes and lycopene, the pigment that gives them their color, do not prevent cancer, the FDA says, contradicting preliminary research. Researchers analyzed 145 studies of lycopene, tomatoes, and cancer risk and found "no credible evidence" that the vegetable wards off lung, colorectal, breast, cervical or uterine cancers, according to...

Insurer Ties Employee Pay to Patient Health

Plan will offer bonuses for boosting patients' use of preventive services

(Newser) - The country's largest health insurer says it will pay up for good health--offering bonuses to employees who boost patients' use of preventive medical services. WellPoint Inc.'s plan is intended to encourage participation in programs like diabetes management, which helps patients handle their medical needs before they end up in...

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