Health Care Costs

(Newser) - Doctors aren’t using electronic health records, though they lead to better care, a study reports. Why? The costs are prohibitive, especially for small private practices. E-records do bring savings—but for insurers and hospitals, not doctors who invest in them. The government is experimenting with financial incentives for doctors to switch over, the New York Times notes. More »

(Newser) - Health care fraud is rampant, especially in South Florida and the LA area, and surprisingly easy to pull off, reports the Washington Post. The 11-digit annual price tag could be smaller if investigators focused more on the fact that Medicare, for example, is "highly vulnerable" to scam artists and less on billing irregularities and unorthodox treatments, experts say. More »

(Newser) - Senators from both sides of the aisle are pushing doctors away from their prescription pads and towards electronic prescribing, the Chicago Tribune reports. Politicians and lobbyists hope the new system will cut down on mis-filled prescriptions and harmful, but avoidable, drug interactions. More »

(Newser) - Sen. Ted Kennedy returned to his Massachusetts home today, a week after undergoing a chancy surgery to remove part of a malignant brain tumor, WBZ-TV reports. The Democrat's plane landed at a Cape Cod airport around 11:30 this morning, the Boston Globe adds; Kennedy, 76, told reporters it was “good to be home." More »

(Newser) - The lives of millions of children  may be saved by a new technique for producing a malaria drug at a 10th of the cost of current treatments, making it accessible the world's most impoverished people, reports the Independent .  The technique involves inserting a dozen synthetic genes into yeast cells, then fermenting them, with sugar, in giant vats, to produce the active ingredient, artemisinin. More »

(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 their foreign competitors—adding about $1,500 to the price of a new car. More »

(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 a utility worker in Tucson whose medical bills have risen by about $4,000 a year. More »

(Newser) - A long-suffering bill outlawing genetic discrimination by health insurers and in the workplace sailed through the House today, and President Bush has pledged to sign it into law, Reuters reports. The bill, forms of which have kicked around Washington for 13 years, forbids insurers from denying coverage based on genetic tests, and employers from using genetic information in job decisions. More »

(Newser) - John McCain unveiled a new health care plan today, urging a larger role for the government while denouncing universal coverage, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The presumptive GOP nominee wants state nonprofit risk pools that would help those without coverage or unable to pay for it. He said, “I won't create another entitlement program that Washington will let get out of control.” More »