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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Attention moms! I know you are bustling around trying to make sure everyone is fed, clothed, bathed, homework is done, husband’s dry cleaning is done, etc etc etc. When do you take a break for yourself?? Along with being busy, we know you are always watching what you consume.
Health.com has provided some fantastic cocktails under 220 calories. Now ladies you can take a break, relax and enjoy a delicious, light aperitif.
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Diana Rosetti from CantonRep.com reports that “watching politicians on television outline ways to save taxpayer dollars through health care reform spurred Dr. Cynthia J. Koelker into action.” Koelker is not your ordinary doctor; she makes house calls and keeps her practice small in order to establish close relationships with her patients. She stresses that patients should constantly ask their doctors questions, and be proactive in their healthcare. Koelker says, “I thought I could write a list of 100 things people could do today, so I sat down at my kitchen table and did it.” Koelker published a book entitled “101 Ways to Save Money on Healthcare” which reveals information medical professionals know and other’s do not.
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A new study showed that if healthcare reform doesn’t pass, rural residents will suffer substantially. Lynda Waddington from The Iowa Independent states, “Jon Bailey, director of the rural research and analysis program at the Center and author of the study, believes that existing health care policy, or lack of it, places rural people at a disadvantage that will worsen if steps are not taken by Congress.” Bailey went on to say that “the benefits far outweigh the risks of inaction.”
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For heart patient Frank Amend, an engineer from North Carolina, his heaviest expense is healthcare, unlike the average American family whose mortgage would be at the top of the list as their biggest expense. Reuters states, “That’s why Amend and tens of thousands of patients with similar conditions find themselves at the center of debate over how to reform the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare sector — and whether the country can afford it.”
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According to the Los Angeles Times, on Thursday the parent of Anthem Blue Cross attempted to justify large premium increases for individual policies, however, “critics – including the Obama administration – voiced skepticism.” The Los Angeles Times reports, “In a letter to the administration, health insurance giant WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis said that increases of as much as 39%, set to take effect March 1, reflect soaring medical costs and an exodus of healthy consumers from its ranks.”
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President Obama revealed on Sunday that he plans to assemble a public meeting at the end of the month with Republican and Democratic leaders to reach a bipartisan consensus on healthcare reform. Obama wants to hear Republican’s input in regards to healthcare reform, however, he does not want to completely start over, only take the best ideas and move forward. Newt Gingrich and John C. Goodman from The Washington Post say, “The best ideas out there are not those that were passed by the House and Senate last year, which consist of more spending, more regulations and more bureaucracy.”
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It’s not a secret that breast implants, eyebrow lifts or liposuction procedures are hard on the wallet. In most cases these surgeries are not covered by health insurance providers. Regardless of those facts people continue to receive more cosmetic surgeries every year.
WebMD.com has helped provide some financial tips and information about how to finance your upcoming cosmetic procedure.
First knowing the cost of specific cosmetic procedures is important up front, speak to your doctor about what you can afford before committing to a procedure.
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Michael Milchovich from The Baltimore Sun says, “With all the talk from members of Congress about the federal budget deficit, I would think they would be just as concerned about the budget deficits of middle class families across the country.” Milchovich says the growing costs of healthcare are very much responsible for millions of American families being in debt, and also has led to many of those families being bankrupt. Milchovich says, “No one in a nation as wealthy and powerful as ours should be punished for getting sick.”
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Anthem Blue Cross, California’s largest for-profit insurer, was asked by California insurance regulators to postpone problematic rate increases for individual policies. These rate increases, some as much as 39%, have “triggered widespread criticism from subscribers and brokers — and now from the federal government,” reports Duke Helfand from the Los Angeles Times. The Obama administration requested that Anthem justify these rate increases, and according to Helfand, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “voiced serious concern [in a letter to Anthem's president] over the higher premiums, which go into effect March 1 for many of the insurer’s estimated 800,000 individual policyholders.”
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Dr. Pauline W. Chen from The New York Times says being a doctor involves knowing the clinical facts like the back of your hand, but it also involves being aware of a patient’s economic reality. She recalls a time when she told one of her patients that he was to pack gauze into his open abdominal incision every day in order to keep it clean and healthy, and then come back in a few weeks for a check-up. However, when the patient arrived for his visit, Dr. Chen noticed the patient had not been changing the gauze as ordered, and his wound was no longer healthy and clean. When Dr. Chen began to stress to him the importance of changing the dressing, he pointed to a stack of unopened gauze, and said, “Hey, Doc … Do you think I could have the extra? This stuff isn’t cheap.” She says she filled the patient’s pockets with gauze, and then began to realize the importance of embracing the social and economic aspects of health care. She says, “It [is] possible to learn about the economic and social aspects of health care while immersed in the details of biology, physiology and pharmacology. And it [is] impossible to become a good clinician without doing so.”
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