health care

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Medical Bills? Your Credit Score Could Take a Whack

Health providers are using collection agencies more aggressively

(Newser) - That unpaid medical bill your insurance company promises to cover for you? Watch out, because even small medical bills are more likely to damage your credit score these days, the New York Times reports. A Texas man was surprised to find that an unpaid $200 ambulance bill (for his son'...

Black Kids Not Receiving Equal Care in ER: Study

Odds of getting pain meds lower than those of white kids

(Newser) - Black kids don't receive the same emergency-room care that white children do, according to a new study of 2,000 kids who sought treatment for abdominal pain in 550 hospitals. It found that black children were 39% less likely to receive painkillers than their white peers. The racial gap...

Highest, Lowest Doctor Salaries

Radiologists at top, pediatricians at bottom

(Newser) - The annual survey from Medscape/WebMD has all kinds of interesting factoids about physician finances—including the fact that many doctors regret their career choice. Highlights:
  • Highest paid: Radiologists and orthopedic surgeons make $315,000, followed by cardiologists ($314,000), anesthesiologists ($309,000), and urologists ($309,000).
  • Lowest paid: Pediatricians ($156,
...

Debt Collectors Go After Patients ... in the ER

'Patients are harassed mercilessly,' one hospital employee says

(Newser) - One of the country's biggest medical debt collectors has reached a new low: sending employees into hospital emergency rooms to "encourage" patients to pay past medical debts before receiving treatment. The Minnesota attorney general is investigating Accretive Health's practices; its debt collectors are allegedly instructed to all...

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...

Clarence Thomas: Justices Ask Too Many Questions

Lawyers deserve a chance to talk, he argues

(Newser) - Clarence Thomas thinks that his fellow Supreme Court justices asked too many questions during the recent oral arguments over health care—and that they ask too many questions, period, reports AP . "I don't see where that advances anything," Thomas told an audience at the University of Kentucky...

Health Care Costs for Family of 4 to Top $20K This Year

That's up 7% from last year, say analysts

(Newser) - Health care costs for a family of four covered on an employer's insurance plan are expected to exceed $20,000 this year, an increase of 7% from last year—and more than double the $9,235 it would set you back in 2002. Under such plans, employers pay a...

Day 2: SCOTUS Weighs Individual Mandate

Supreme Court will hear arguments on health care law's individual mandate

(Newser) - Today's the big day: The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the focal point of the challenge to President Obama's health care law, the individual mandate. If the mandate is upheld, everyone in the US will be required to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty; it's...

For Lawyers, Health Case an Exhausting Marathon

Long arguments will require 'enormous endurance'

(Newser) - It's a big day in Washington as the Supreme Court prepares for the opening arguments over President Obama's health care law . Teams of lawyers on both sides have been deep in preparation, staging mock arguments that have nearly drained the city of attorneys up for playing the role...

Obama Health Rules Could Survive Court Rejection

Justices hear case Monday as health reform turns 2 years old

(Newser) - It's two years to the day since health reform became law, but with a Supreme Court case ahead, its future is murky. It remains unpopular enough that President Obama isn't making any live appearances to celebrate the anniversary, an aide tells the Wall Street Journal . Still, even if...

Trudeau Rips Papers Axing Doonesbury Abortion Strip

Cartoonist calls transvaginal ultrasounds GOP-sanctioned rape

(Newser) - The cartoonist's pen might be mightier than the sword, but Gary Trudeau's mouth is also packing a punch. He's blasting newspapers that are dumping Doonsebury this week because the strip attacks state abortion laws requiring transvaginal ultrasounds as rape. "I write the strip to be read,...

Sandra Fluke: Limbaugh's Apology Changes Nothing

Georgetown law student dismisses regret from shock jock

(Newser) - It's not only advertisers who are unimpressed with Rush Limbaugh's apology. The Georgetown law student Limbaugh derided as a "slut" said today that his public apology meant little to her, ABC News reports. "I don't think that a statement like this issued, saying that his...

Obama Tricked the Right Over Contraception

 Obama Tricked 
 the Right Over 
 Contraception 
Andrew Sullivan
Feb 12, 2012 1:56 PM CST

Obama Tricked the Right Over Contraception

Andrew Sullivan: Catholic health care compromise 'a trap'

(Newser) - Lefties and righties alike ripped President Obama for allowing his new health care rule to affect Catholic organizations. But his compromise is drawing ardent conservatives into a culture war they're bound to lose, argues Andrew Sullivan in The Daily Beast : "If this was a trap, the religious...

Hospitals Stuck With 'Permanent Patients'

Illegal immigrants, those without insurance, cost millions to care for

(Newser) - Look long enough in most hospitals, and you’ll probably find some decidedly unwelcome guests. Hospitals, particularly those in urban centers like New York, are faced with a growing burden from so-called “permanent patients,” who hospitals are stuck caring for even though they are well enough to be...

Greece's Economic Mess Fuels a Medical One

Austerity measures aren't painless for poor

(Newser) - As Greece's debt crisis mounted and the country looked for austerity measures, its unwieldy and often corruption-riddled universal health care system became a prime target, with spending cut 13%. But that has had dire consequences, the New York Times reports. Public clinics are suddenly overwhelmed, as patients newly unable...

Millions Siphoned From Medicaid by Fake Firms
Dummy Firms Squeeze Millions From Medicare
INVESTIGATION
Dec 22, 2011 4:42 AM CST

Dummy Firms Squeeze Millions From Medicare

Fraud-fighters finding it hard to stay ahead of shell companies

(Newser) - Fraudsters using complicated networks of ghost companies are sucking hundreds of millions of dollars out of Medicare every year and it's a bit like taking candy from a baby, a Reuters investigation finds. The probe—which officials say will likely lead to a criminal investigation of the firms involved—...

PolitiFact Reveals Its 'Lie of the Year'

GOP didn't try to 'end Medicare,' says site; left-leaning bloggers disagree

(Newser) - The biggest lie coming out of Washington this year was Democrats' assertion that "Republicans voted to end Medicare," PolitiFact says. Paul Ryan's proposal wouldn't have changed anything for people already 55 and older, and it would only have altered—not ended—Medicare for others, says the...

Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Makes Gay Men Healthier
 Same-Sex Marriage Laws 
 Improve Gay Health 
study says
Dec 18, 2011 2:20 PM CST

Same-Sex Marriage Laws Improve Gay Health

'Equality may produce broad public health benefits': expert

(Newser) - Want to improve the health of gay men? Just legalize gay marriage, the New York Daily News reports. A new study shows that gay men in Massachusetts visited a health care clinic 13% less often after same-sex marriage was legalized in the state in 2003. The result suggests "that...

White House Gives States More Say on Health Law

Proposal would let them determine 'essential benefits'

(Newser) - In a potentially big shift, the White House is poised to give states much more flexibility on how to implement a key part of health care reform. Under a proposal outlined by health chief Kathleen Sebelius, the federal government would largely let states determine what "essential health benefits" would...

Gingrich Backed Individual Health Care Mandate

And other big government programs that benefited his clients: NYT

(Newser) - These days, like most Republicans, Newt Gingrich says he's opposed to the individual mandate in the Democrats' health care reform bill, which forces Americans to hold insurance. But in a May 2009 conference call with health care executives, Gingrich sang a very different tune, the New York Times has...

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