The US spends far more per capita on healthcare than any other developed country — $7,538 per person, compared to $3,129 in the UK, $4,079 in Canada, and $5,003 in Norway (the second-biggest spender), according to 2008 totals compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. One contributor to our high healthcare costs is high administrative costs, […]
I wrote last month about the Institute of Medicine recommendations regarding preventive health services for women that should be covered by all new health plans without requiring co-payments or other cost sharing. Like many other supporters of women’s health, I was especially interested in the proposal that contraceptives be covered at no charge to women. […]
By Kim Krisberg We’re talking about it all wrong. Health reform, that is. We (reformers) think we’re answering the questions that will change opponents’ minds, when there’s no answer that will ever satisfy. My head hurts just thinking about it (though a giant, energy-efficient light bulb flickered on over my head after I thought about […]
This post is part of the Birth Control Blog Carnival put on by the National Women’s Law Center. Yesterday I wrote about new Institute of Medicine recommendations regarding preventive health services for women that should be covered by all new health plans without requiring cost-sharing. One of the IOM’s recommendations was that all FDA-approved contraceptive […]
Affordable Care Act
Institute of Medicine recommends contraception and other preventive health services for women be covered free of charge
One of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act is a requirement that new health plans cover preventive services for women without deductibles or co-payments. The Department of Health and Human Services asked the Institute of Medicine to review what preventive services are important to women’s health and well-being and make recommendations about which of […]
It’s wonderful to hear what substantial progress US Representative Gabrielle Giffords has made in recovering from the traumatic brain injury she sustained from being shot in the head in January. As the Associated Press reported this morning, Giffords has spent the past five months in a rehabilitation facility and has regained some of her speaking […]
When I decided yesterday to watch the Republican candidates debate, I created a scorecard to use while I observed the two-hour event. I was interested particularly in exchanges related to public health topics, such as access to health care, and clean air and safe drinking water. Within minutes of first tuning in, I remembered how […]
Seven Republicans will meet tonight at St. Anselms college in Manchester, New Hampshire for a Presidential debate. The participants include both the declared candidates (Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santoroum) and likely candidate, Michele Bachman. Given that the event will take place in the St. Anselm Hawk’s hockey […]
I read a lot of stories about how our healthcare system fails people, but one of the ones that’s stuck with me the most is the tragedy of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver, who died in 2007 after bacteria from an abscessed tooth spread to his brain. Deamonte and his brother were covered by Maryland’s Medicaid program, […]
Last week, Andrew Sullivan noted that a large proportion of healthcare costs are for the last days and hours of patients’ lives and made the following proposal: If everyone aged 40 or over simply made sure we appointed someone to be our power-of-attorney and instructed that person not to prolong our lives by extraordinary measures […]