A new survey revealed that a majority of “big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year,” reports David S. Hilzenrath from The Washington Post. The survey found that 56 percent of employers plan to make their employees pay more of the costs next year. A lot of companies say they might “charge more to cover spouses, tighten eligibility standards for their health plans and dispense financial rewards or penalties based on the results of certain lab tests,” states Hilzenrath. Some companies even say that overweight employees might be excluded from the most desirable plans.
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Inhalants such as aerosol computer cleaners, glue, hair sprays, paint solvents and gasoline are used by many pre-teens to get high. It is more common for 12-year-olds to get high from inhalants rather than other drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and hallucinogens. According to HealthDay.com, more 12-year-olds have used inhalants to get high than all these other drugs combined. These inhalants can be deadly, yet almost seven percent of 12-year-olds say they have sniffed inhalants to get high. “Huffing” or sniffing these drugs can cause sudden death from cardiac arrest, and people who use these products to get high take the risk of getting addicted.
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According to FierceHealthcare.com, a bill was signed into law on Tuesday in Wisconsin that forces providers to reveal the costs of common tests and procedures, which in turn will allow patients to compare prices and shop around. “The Health Care Transparency bill will give patients a better idea of their out-of-pocket costs and effectively enables them to price shop,” said Gov. Jim Doyle, who signed the bill into law.
In any other situation people see the price of a product before they purchase it; however, in healthcare it is the exact opposite.
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A new study revealed that drinking red wine might help keep a woman’s weight in check. The study involved 20,000 “trim” women, and “over time, women who drank alcohol in moderation put on less weight and were less apt to become overweight compared to non-drinkers,” reports Megan Brooks from Reuters. Other alcohols such as white wine, beer and spirits also helped at keeping the women in shape; however, red wine proved to be the most beneficial.
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According to U.S. health officials, genital herpes is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, and infects about 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49. JoAnne Allen from Reuters states, “Black women had the highest rate of infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice as likely as men to be infected.”
Genital herpes can cause painful genital sores, and “also increases the likelihood of acquiring and transmitting the AIDS virus,” reports Allen. There is no cure for herpes, but there are several drugs that can help with symptoms and outbreaks.
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Amanda Bennet lost her husband of 20 years to a grueling battle with kidney cancer December 14, 2007. Bennet’s husband, Terence Bryan Foley, fought for seven years, and had been told several times that he was going to die, yet somehow made it through. Bennet and her husband were forced to make several difficult decisions throughout the seven years, and every choice they made was made to save Terence’s life regardless of the price. They had “robust” medical insurance, which allowed them to keep on fighting. Bennet says, “We didn’t have to think about money, allocation of medical resources, the struggles of roughly 46 million uninsured Americans, or the impact on corporate bottom lines.”
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A common flavoring used in soups, sauces, hot dogs, snack foods, dressings and dips has been voluntarily recalled due to a possible salmonella contamination. So far no one has reported any illnesses from eating the contaminated food. Reuters reports that U.S. food regulators “did not estimate how broad the recall will be,” but the recall is expected to get bigger over the next few days.
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Low-fat or low-carb, which one do you prefer? Which one works best for you? Do you even know? Well you’re in luck if you don’t; a new study revealed that a genetic test can help people choose which diet is more effective in helping them lose weight. The study followed 133 overweight women for a year. All the women “with a genetic predisposition to benefit from a low-carbohydrate diet lost 2 1/2 times as much weight as those on the same diet without the predisposition,” reports Ron Winslow from The Wall Street Journal. Also, women with a “genetic makeup that favored a low-fat diet lost substantially more weight than women who curbed fat calories without low-fat genes,” says Winslow.
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A new study revealed that children’s language skills don’t get better after watching educational DVDs like the Baby Wordsworth from the Walt Disney Company’s Baby Einstein series. Frederik Joelving from Reuters reports, “While The Baby Einstein Company does not explicitly make educational claims, it notes on its web page that the Baby Wordsworth DVD is a “playful introduction to words and sign language.””
The study was over a 6 week span and involved 88 children, ages one and two. Some children were assigned to watch the Baby Einstein DVD, and others were assigned not to. At the end of the study, researchers “then tested the language skills in each group based on how many words the kids knew according to their parents and how well they did in a lab test,” states Joelving. These tests revealed that children who watched the DVD had the same language skills as the children who didn’t watch the DVD.
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Bacteria in your stomach may actually have a big impact on your health and your weight. These germs in your gut might contribute to obesity, and can affect your “appetite as well as inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn’s disease and colitis,” reports Maggie Fox from Reuters.
Obesity is caused from people overeating, and intestinal bacteria might be a cause for people eating more.
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A new study revealed that food-borne illnesses cost the United States $152 billion a year in regards to health-related expenses, which is much more than what was initially estimated. Christopher Doering from Reuters states, “The price tag includes medical costs, lost productivity and quality-of-life.” “Food safety advocates are hoping the study will boost efforts in Congress to overhaul the nation’s antiquated food safety system that has seen consumer confidence plunge,” reports Doering.
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