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Many young, low-income women may not be able to access birth control methods

Young, low-income women in Canada are less likely to use more effective methods of birth control like the pill, and more likely to use no contraception or condoms only, according to new UBC research.

5 Nov 2019

Large waist circumference may be a risk factor for obesity-related dementia

A new study has shown that that visceral obesity may be associated with an increased risk for dementia among older individuals.

5 Nov 2019

High waist circumference linked to increased obesity-related dementia risk

Waist circumference is a more accurate indicator of abdominal visceral fat level than body mass index in the elderly, according to a report published in Obesity, the flagship journal of The Obesity Society.

5 Nov 2019

Return to sender: A single undeliverable letter can mean losing Medicaid

Forty-two boxes of returned mail lined a wall of the El Paso County Department of Human Services office on a recent fall morning. There used to be three times as many.

4 Nov 2019

Obamacare’s star ratings offer a glimmer of insight ― but not for all

As millions of Americans start shopping Friday for individual health insurance for 2020, they will see federal ratings comparing the quality of health plans on the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplaces.

1 Nov 2019

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Spooky stuff

Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 in most states for people who buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. For the second year in a row, premiums for these individual market plans are down slightly, even without the federal tax penalty for those who remain uncovered.

31 Oct 2019

Grief grew into a mental health crisis and a $21,634 hospital bill

Arline Feilen lost her husband to suicide in 2013. Three years later, she lost her dad to cancer. And this February, she lost her 89-year-old mom to a cascade of health problems.

31 Oct 2019

Facebook takes social media into preventive health – but is it private?

Facebook’s (FB) new Preventive Health Tool has been set up to connect its users to resources and reminders for health assessments in three major areas – heart disease and stroke, cancer, and seasonal influenza – thus making it easier for FB fans to remember to look after their health as well.

29 Oct 2019

Medicare fraud and abuse associated with patient mortality, hospitalizations

Patients treated by health care professionals later excluded from the Medicare program for committing fraud and abuse were between 14 to 17 percent more likely to die than similar patients treated by non-excluded physicians, nurses, and other professionals, according to a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

29 Oct 2019

Moved overseas for school, stayed for insulin

Every now and then, Katie West considers returning to the United States. She moved to Germany for graduate school three years ago and now works as a health systems researcher in Hamburg. Her family is an ocean away. Then she remembers why she stays.

29 Oct 2019

Employers are scaling back their dependence on high-deductible health plans

Everything old is new again. As open enrollment gets underway for next year's job-based health insurance coverage, some employees are seeing traditional plans offered alongside or instead of the plans with sky-high deductibles that may have been their only choice in the past.

29 Oct 2019

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All about Medicaid

Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for people with low incomes, serves more than 70 million people, covers 1 in every 5 births in the U.S. and foots more than half the nation's bill for long-term care. Yet Medicaid isn't one program, it's 56 separate programs (one for each state plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territories).

24 Oct 2019

Freestanding emergency departments increase local market spending on care

Rather than functioning as substitutes for hospital-based emergency departments, freestanding emergency departments have increased local market spending on emergency care in three of four states' markets where they have entered, according to a new paper by experts at Rice University.

22 Oct 2019

American Indians experience higher risk of atrial fibrillation, study finds

Irregular heartbeat or atrial fibrillation (AFib) occurred more often among American Indians than among other racial and ethnic groups, according to new research published in Circulation, the American Heart Association's premier cardiovascular research journal.

21 Oct 2019

Whistleblower alleges Medicare fraud at iconic Seattle-based health plan

Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, one of the nation's oldest and most respected nonprofit health insurance plans, is accused of bilking Medicare out of millions of dollars in a federal whistleblower case.

18 Oct 2019

Medicaid expansion provides more gains in health insurance coverage for married people

New research suggests that, under the United States’ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), expanded Medicaid coverage has provided greater improvements in health insurance coverage for married people, especially women, than for unmarried people.

From PLOS ONE 18 Oct 2019

Improving health insurance literacy may help minimize financial hardship among cancer survivors

A new American Cancer Society study links health insurance literacy with medical financial hardship as well as non-medical financial sacrifices among adult cancer survivors in the United States.

17 Oct 2019

Young adults with PTSD more likely to experience a stroke event by middle age

Young adults who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder may be more likely to experience a transient ischemic attack or major stroke event by middle age, raising the risk as much as other better-known risk factors, according to new research published in Stroke, a journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

17 Oct 2019

California to provide financial boost to help buy health coverage

If you are among the Californians who buy your own health insurance, a surprise may await you as the enrollment period for 2020 coverage opens this week.

17 Oct 2019

Refereeing Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren on public support for ‘Medicare for All’

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., sparred with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at the most recent Democratic presidential primary debate over how to expand health insurance coverage for all Americans.

16 Oct 2019