Baker said employers were bracing for potentially bigger increases next year. “Historically, downturns in the economy have often correlated with higher medical trends,” she said.
But higher deductibles could prompt cash-strapped workers to think twice about visiting a doctor, and healthcare experts have long argued that people who avoid treatment end up having bigger medical problems — at greater cost — later.
“What this says is that the employers Read the rest of this entry »

FROM the day he was born, jaundiced and needing a blood transfusion, his parents opposed medical treatment. They believed God would heal him.
When he died four-and-a-half years later, the boy was blind, intellectually disabled and slithered around like a snake because he could not walk.
Yesterday his mother, 34, pleaded guilty to his manslaughter, having denied him the medical care prosecutors said he so obviously needed.
The boy died in August Read the rest of this entry »

function showDiv(id) {
var link_obj = document.getElementById(“sec_” + id);
var sub_obj = document.getElementById(“sub_” + id);

if (sub_obj) {
if (navigator.appName == ‘Microsoft Internet Explorer’) {
sub_obj.style.top = (link_obj.offsetTop + 20) + “px”;
sub_obj.style.left = (link_obj.offsetLeft + 5) + “px”;
}
else {
sub_obj.style.top = (link_obj.offsetTop + 17) + “px”;
sub_obj.style.left = (link_obj.offsetLeft + Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Drinking apple juice helps slow the accumulation of the protein fragments that damage the brain in Alzheimer’s disease, new research in mice shows.
The protein fragments, known as beta-amyloid, are the building blocks of the plaques that form in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings don’t suggest that Alzheimer’s disease can be treated by gulping gallons of apple juice, but they do point to the Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK — Barack Obama says he wishes he had more time for staying fit. And the Democratic presidential candidate admits that he still occasionally smokes a cigarette.
“Most of my workouts have to come before my day starts,” Obama told the magazine Men’s Health in an interview for its November issue. “There’s always a trade-off between sleep and working out. Usually I get in about 45 minutes, six days a week. Read the rest of this entry »

At the University of Minnesota Medical School, which is funded partly by clinical practices, the growth in unpaid bills means margins are narrowing to the point where just doing more procedures isn’t going to suffice, said Frank Cerra, senior vice president for health sciences. The university has postponed a $200-million building for outpatient care on campus and begun streamlining its management ranks. If things don’t improve, it might raise medical Read the rest of this entry »

younger than 50 who have been previously vaccinated against the flu, suggests a study published in the December 8/22 issue of
. The study looked at healthy people ages 18 to 64 who had received flu vaccines in the previous one to three years. Researchers administered a full dose of the flu shot to a group of 554 study participants; they gave a half dose to a separate group of 556 participants, HealthDay reports. The antibody response in those who Read the rest of this entry »

Hospitals around the country are struggling to stay afloat amid the recession, although many have had financial problems for years, often blamed on Medicare, Medicaid and other government health programs that don’t fully cover the costs of care for millions of patients.
_In mid-December, the prestigious Cleveland Clinic started a hiring and salary freeze across the 33,000-worker health system; it also restricted travel and use of consultants and Read the rest of this entry »

(RTTNews) - 
Thursday, dialysis products and service provider Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (FMS:
), reported a rise in profit for the fourth quarter, reflecting good performances in all its business segments and regions. Earnings came in line with analysts’ expectations, while revenues fell short of estimates. Fresenius also issued guidance for the fiscal year 2009.
The Germany-based company’s net income Read the rest of this entry »

The weeks since Hurricane Ike slammed ashore on Galveston Island have been filled with uncertainty.
Residents who rode out the storm waited for rescue. Those who heeded a mandatory evacuation call waited for permission to return. They waited for electrical and water service — some still are waiting — and for direction on what repairs would be permitted.
The waiting has been especially difficult for the 12,000 employees whose futures Read the rest of this entry »