http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The traditional Medicare program allocates only 1 percent of total spending to overhead compared with 6 percent when the privatized portion of Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage, is included, according to a study in the June 2013 issue of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-straight-medicare-overhead.html Health Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:11:27 EST news280584679 Poorer lung cancer patients in the developed world are significantly less likely to receive treatment than richer patients, researchers from Newcastle University have found. This inequality in treatment may contribute to the higher death rates for lung cancer in poorer patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-poorer-patients-lung-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Fri, 08 Feb 2013 06:50:03 EST news279527851 A record number of U.S. children were covered by health insurance in 2011, mostly due to substantial increases in the enrollment rates of public insurance, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-children-health.html Health Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:11:49 EST news279288703 African-Americans and individuals without private health insurance are less likely than others to receive a kidney transplant before requiring dialysis, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that efforts are needed to ensure the equitable distribution of donor kidneys and the timing of transplantation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-disparities-kidney-transplant.html Other Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:00:05 EST news278869706 (AP)—Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a glitch in President Barack Obama's overhaul law. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-families-priced-health-overhaul.html Health Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:33:15 EST news278793186 (HealthDay)—About half of youths with type 1 diabetes shift to a more intensive insulin regimen over time, which is associated with better glycemic control, according to research published in the January issue of Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-t1dm-insulin-intensification-patterns-outcomes.html Diabetes Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:10:01 EST news278763027 (AP)—Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has scrapped plans to shutter the state's Medicaid hospice program in February, meaning the state will continue to provide end-of-life care to people on their death beds who can't afford private insurance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-louisiana-shelves-medicaid-hospice.html Health Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:50:28 EST news278225419 (AP)—The Supreme Court has turned away a challenge from former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and other Social Security recipients who say they have the right to reject Medicare in favor of continuing health coverage from private insurers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-high-court-medicare.html Health Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:15:10 EST news276776105 Compared to the nation, a higher proportion of children in California are uninsured, one in every 10 children or more than 1.1 million in 2011. More of California's children have public health insurance and fewer through their parents' employer. And, over the past three years, a decade of advances in California children's public insurance enrollment has stalled, as coverage in Healthy Families (California's children's health insurance program) declined as a result of reductions in state government funding. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-higher-proportion-california-children-uninsured.html Health Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:31:43 EST news272140294 A Yale team of researchers has looked at the cost of seeking out-of-network medical care, and whether private insurance companies are transparent about the cost. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-out-of-network-doctors-worth.html Health Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:10:41 EST news272103024 Men with employment-contingent health insurance (ECHI) who suffer a health shock, such as a cancer diagnosis or hospitalization, are more likely to feel "locked" into remaining at work and are at greater risk for losing their insurance during this critical time as compared to men who are on their spouse's insurance plan or on private insurance plans, according to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-employment-based-health-reform.html Health Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:54:41 EST news271097673 In the United States, the cost paid for statins (drugs to lower cholesterol) in people under the age of 65 who have private insurance continues to exceed comparable costs paid by the government in the United Kingdom (U.K.) by more than three fold. These results from Boston University's Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, are a follow up of an ongoing comparison of prescription drug costs between the U.S. and U.K. The initial results reported on relative drug costs in 2005. The current updated results for 2009 appear this week in the journal Pharmacotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-prescription-drugsa-comparison-countries.html Medications Thu, 01 Nov 2012 04:29:37 EST news270962944 Compared to six years ago, the number of orthopedic surgeons willing to see a child with a broken arm who is covered by Medicaid has dropped 39 percent, and even children with private insurance may face obstacles in getting a timely appointment, according to research presented Oct. 21 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-orthopedic-surgeons-pediatric-medicaid-patients.html Pediatrics Sun, 21 Oct 2012 05:50:02 EST news270014678 (HealthDay)—Preterm neonates born to low-income parents have a disproportionately high risk of developing posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH) that requires multiple surgeries and extensive follow-up, according to research published online Sept. 28 in Pediatric Neurosurgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-post-bleed-hydrocephalus-low-income-preemies.html Pediatrics Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:20:01 EST news269790101 (Medical Xpress)—For years policymakers have attempted to replace Medicare's fee-for- service payment system with approaches that pay one price for an aggregation of services. The intent has been to reward providers for offering needed care in the most appropriate and cost-effective manner. But many of these programs have known pitfalls, says Stuart Altman, an economist and the Sol C. Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-alternatives-medicare-fee-for-service-payment.html Health Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:16:32 EST news266084186 Insurance status is a better predictor of survival after a serious cardiac event than race, and may help explain racial disparities in health outcomes for cardiovascular disease. A new study by Derek Ng, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and his team shows that race is not linked to an increased risk of death but being underinsured is a strong predictor of death among those admitted into hospital with a serious cardiac event. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-recover.html Health Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:08:17 EST news263477219 As part of the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and medical centers are required to report their quality-of-care and risk-standardized outcomes for stroke and other common medical conditions. But reporting models for mortality that don't consider stroke severity may unfairly skew these results. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hospitals-stroke-care-markedly-severity.html Health Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:00:10 EST news261750250 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that health insurance exchanges, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, may need to be monitored to make sure there is sufficient competition between private insurance plans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-lack-competition-hike-health-exchanges.html Health Tue, 05 Jun 2012 06:21:11 EST news258096066 Patients who undergo radical surgery for prostate cancer may expect better results, on average, if they're treated in accredited teaching hospitals with residency programs, and better still if the hospitals also have medical fellowships, according to a new study by Henry Ford Hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-prostate-cancer-surgery-complications-hospitals.html Cancer Tue, 15 May 2012 14:58:29 EST news256312703 In 2009, children with public insurance were three times more likely and children with no insurance were eleven time more likely not to have a primary care physician, compared with children with private insurance. Without a primary care physician, the Emergency Department (ED) often becomes the primary point of contact for treatments and diagnoses. A new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics reports that children with private, public, and no insurance may receive differing levels of treatment in EDs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-disparities-treatment-children-emergency-department.html Health Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:01 EST news255783660 (AP) -- More than 3 million health insurance policyholders and thousands of employers will share $1.3 billion in rebates this year, thanks to President Barack Obama's health care law, a nonpartisan research group said Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-rebates-health-law-1b.html Health Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:31:27 EST news254680279 (AP) -- For many HIV-positive Americans, and those who advocate on their behalf, these are days of anxious waiting as the Supreme Court ponders President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-health-debate-high-stakes-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:18:55 EST news254593127 (HealthDay) -- Screening people at high risk for lung cancer could be at least as cost-effective as screening for breast, colorectal and cervical cancers, a new study suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-lung-cancer-screening-analysis.html Cancer Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:40:01 EST news253207319 African-Americans and Hispanics with major depressive disorder are less likely to get antidepressants than Caucasian patients, and Medicare and Medicaid patients are less likely to get the newest generation of antidepressants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-physicians-antidepressants-minorities-medicaid-patients.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:55:32 EST news252842119 Consumers nationwide would have received an estimated $2 billion in rebates from health insurers if the new medical loss ratio (MLR) rules enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act had been in effect in 2010, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund. The MLR rules, which went into effect in 2011, aim to control private insurance costs for consumers and government by requiring a minimum percentage of premium dollars to be spent on medical care and health care quality improvement, as opposed to administrative costs and corporate profits. Insurers must meet a minimum MLR of 80 percent in the individual and small-group markets, and 85 percent in the large group market, and issue rebates if they do not. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-billion-consumer-rebates.html Health Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:12:36 EST news252817934 (HealthDay) -- For men undergoing radical prostatectomies (RPs), private health insurance coverage is linked with fewer complications, less in-hospital recovery time, and decreased mortality, compared to public coverage, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of Cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-short-term-outcomes-private-prostatectomies.html Health Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:01 EST news252332394 (HealthDay) -- Medicaid patients have more difficulty getting primary care and visit hospital emergency departments more often than those with private insurance, a new study finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-medicaid-patients-ers.html Health Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:10:57 EST news251385027 Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that laws permitting children to stay on their parents' health insurance through age 26 result in improved access to health care compared to states without those laws. This analysis indicates the potential positive impact of a key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The study appears in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-young-adults-parents-health-access.html Health Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:30:01 EST news248325629 In the United States, the cost paid for statins (drugs to lower cholesterol) in people under the age of 65 who have private insurance is approximately 400 percent higher than comparable costs paid by the government in the United Kingdom (U.K.). These findings, from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, are the first results of a comprehensive comparison of prescription drug costs between the U.S. and U.K. The study appears on-line in the journal Pharmacotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-statin-percent-higher-uk.html Medications Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:55:09 EST news244994100 (AP) -- Bill Dunphy thought his colonoscopy would be free. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-free.html Health Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:01:03 EST news244274457