Patricia Powers went a few years without health insurance and was unable to afford regular doctor visits. So the Missouri resident, who lives near St. Louis, had no idea that cancerous tumors were silently growing in both of her breasts. If Powers lived just across the Mississippi River in neighboring …
As terrified as you might be of a possible cancer diagnosis from your doctor, a new study warns that you still need to keep your appointment. Why? Patients who blow off appointments for cancer symptoms are 12 percent more likely to die within a year of diagnosis, British researchers report. …
In the first three months after getting his Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, Ric Peralta managed to reduce his average blood sugar level by three percentage points. “It took me from not-very-well-managed blood sugar to something that was incredibly well managed,” says Peralta, a 46-year-old optician in Whittier, Calif., who was diagnosed with …
On a hot June day in Fort Scott, Kan., as the Good Ol’ Days festival was in full swing, 7-year-old Kaidence Anderson sat in the shade with her family, waiting for a medevac helicopter to land. A crowd had gathered to see the display prearranged by staff at the town’s …
The assisted living industry is booming, by tapping into the fantasy that we can all be self-sufficient until we die. Assisted living seems like the solution to everyone’s worries about old age. It’s built on the dream that we can grow old while being self-reliant and live that way until we …
As Americans sink under medical expenses, debt collectors go to great—and sometimes strange—lengths to collect. On March 8, 2011, Joclyn Krevat, an occupational therapist in New York, was sitting at her computer when she received a most unusual LinkedIn request. The wording was the familiar: “I’d like to add you …
Aug. 23 (UPI) — Caregivers for people with dementia miss out on up to 3.5 hours of sleep each week, which could lead to harmful outcomes for patients, a new study says. On average, family members spend nearly 22 hours each week caring for parents, grandparents and siblings with Alzheimer’s and …
Fountain Valley resident Jennifer Moore makes a really good point. “When you take your car to the mechanic, they give you a written estimate before they touch it,” she told me. “So why is it that when you go to the hospital, you have no idea how much something will …
A bad-faith debate over health care coverage. Health care was a key factor in Democrats’ victory in the 2018 midterm elections, and it should be a big plus in 2020 as well. The shared Democratic position — that every legal resident should have access to affordable care, regardless of income …
Will specious, bad-faith legal arguments prevail? The Affordable Care Act was an imperfect and incomplete reform. The political compromises needed to get it through Congress created a complex system in which too many people fall through the holes. It was also underfunded, which is why deductibles are often uncomfortably high. …
We all hope for some peace and comfort at the end of life. Hospices are designed to make that possible, relieving pain and providing emotional and spiritual support. But two new government studies released Tuesday morning find that the vast majority of hospices have sometimes failed to do that. And there’s …
An air ambulance might be your only chance to survive a medical emergency — but a new study reports it’s going to cost you. The median charge of an air ambulance trip was $39,000 in 2016, about 60 percent more than the $24,000 charged just four years earlier, researchers found. …
