Medical Health Animation

New Study Finds Military Marriages Are Not More Vulnerable To Divorce
Despite the fact that military service means working long hours with unpredictable schedules, frequent relocations, and separations from loved ones due to deployment, a new study published in the Journal of Family Issues (a SAGE journal) finds that marriages of military members are not more vulnerable than civilian marriages...

Colon Cancer And Economic Theory In Health Care
A study of 7,424 privately insured colon cancer patients found that managed care presence in the market and hospital competition increased the likelihood laparoscopic surgery to treat colon cancer lowered costs, a national team of researchers led by a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services reported in the journal Cancer...

Introduction Of Bipartisan Bill To Eliminate Medicare SGR Formula Applauded By ACP
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has applauded Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) for their bipartisan introduction of the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act of 2012. The bill is designed to eliminate the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and the turmoil brought by its resulting scheduled cuts...

The Insurance Status Of Children In The Emergency Department May Lead To Disparities In Treatment
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...

Supporting Community Progress Towards A High Performance Health System, Thanks To Affordable Care Act And Other Laws
Noting the "unprecedented opportunity" provided under the Affordable Care Act, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other recently enacted federal laws, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System has unveiled a community-based plan to enhance health and reduce spending by improving care for chronically il...

Medical Bills: Sticker Shock And Confused Consumers
You're enjoying a quiet weekend at home when suddenly you double over in pain. You need emergency appendectomy surgery...

26% Of Working Age Adults In USA Lack Health Insurance
Just over one quarter (26%) of all Americans of working age in 2011 experienced a gap in health insurance cover, says a new report published by the Commonwealth Fund. The authors explained that in many cases, when people change their jobs or become unemployed, many of them lose health coverage...

The Majority Of California's Medi-Cal Caregivers Live In Or Near Poverty
The demand for caregivers is growing rapidly as California's population ages, but the majority of state's Medi-Cal caregivers earn poverty or near-poverty wages and have poor access to health care and food, a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has found...

Lung Cancer Screening As An Insurance Benefit Would Save Lives At A Relatively Low Cost
Lung cancer is the most lethal cancer in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute, lung cancer causes more than 150,000 deaths annually and has a survival rate of 16 percent. More Americans die of lung cancer each year than of cervical, breast, colon and prostate cancers combined...

Risky Treatments With Larger Rewards Preferable To 'Safe Bets' For Cancer Patients
A new analysis provides a closer look at how much cancer patients value hope - with important implications for how insurers value treatment, particularly in end-of-life care...

How Insurance Status Influences Emergency Department Visit Rates
A study published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, reveals that newly insured and newly uninsured adults are more likely to go to the emergency department (ED) due to recent changes in health insurance status. The report is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series. The hospital ED is a significant indicator for access to care...

Affordable Care Act's Patients' Bill Of Rights: Nearly All States Have Taken Action
As the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act approaches, a new Commonwealth Fund report finds that 49 states and the District of Columbia have already taken action supporting the law's implementation, such as passing legislation, issuing regulations or other guidance, or actively reviewing insurer filings...

News From The Annals Of Family Medicine: March/April 2012
Four articles in the current issue draw attention to policy initiatives and implications of the rapidly changing U.S. health care environment. Collectively, they examine some of the challenges and opportunities facing the country following the 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...

Treatment Discontinued By One In Four U.S. HIV Patients
Only about 75 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States remain in care consistently, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in AIDS...

Due To Language Barriers, Over 100,000 Californians Likely To Miss Out On Health Care
Language barriers could deter more than 100,000 Californians from enrolling in the Health Benefit Exchange, according to a study released today by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education...