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Hearing challenges still reported by high proportion of older people with hearing aids

A high proportion of older people with hearing aids, especially those with lower incomes, report having trouble hearing and difficulty accessing hearing care services, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

7 Jan 2019

LetsGetChecked: The Company That's Revolutionizing Consumer Healthcare

LetsGetChecked is a medical technology platform revolutionizing consumer healthcare by linking patients with labs to make healthcare open and patient-led.

From Letsgetchecked 4 Dec 2018

Attention, marketplace shoppers: Don’t delay on 2019 enrollment

Don't procrastinate. Most consumers who buy their own insurance on the federal health insurance marketplace face a Dec. 15 deadline. Advocates are reminding these customers that if they miss the deadline, they may not have a plan that starts in January 2019.

21 Nov 2018

Politicians hop aboard ‘Medicare-for-all’ train, destination unknown

After decades in the political wilderness, "Medicare-for-all" and single-payer health care are suddenly popular. The words appear in political advertisements and are cheered at campaign rallies — even in deep-red states.

22 Oct 2018

The remedy for surprise medical bills may lie in stitching up federal law

When Drew Calver had a heart attack last year, his health plan paid nearly $56,000 for the 44-year-old's four-day emergency hospital stay at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, a hospital that was not in his insurance network. But the hospital charged Calver another $109,000. That sum — a so-called balance bill — was the difference between what the hospital and his insurer thought his care was worth.

10 Sep 2018

Bundled-payment system did not lower costs for serious medical conditions, shows study

A payment system that provides financial incentives for hospitals that reduce health-care costs for Medicare patients did not lower costs as intended, according to a new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

19 Jul 2018

Can insurers use genetic testing results? A reader wants to know

This week, I answer questions from readers concerned about health insurance roadblocks in the face of a serious illness or medical crisis.

10 Jul 2018

Overdose risk increases five-fold with concurrent opioid and benzodiazepine use

In the first 90 days of concurrent opioid and benzodiazepine use, the risk of opioid-related overdose increases five-fold compared to opioid-only use among Medicare recipients, according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, published today in JAMA Network Open

22 Jun 2018

Californians face ‘real choice’ on health care in November

In the state that's leading the opposition to many of President Donald Trump's health policies, California voters will face a stark choice on the November ballot: keep up the resistance or fall in line.

7 Jun 2018

When credit scores become casualties of health care

After a devastating horse-riding accident in January 2017 landed him in the hospital for about 30 days, requiring trauma care and hospital-based therapy, Jeff Woodard considered himself lucky.

9 May 2018

No-go for Idaho: Back to the drawing board on state-based health plans

No, you can't. That's what federal officials told Idaho regulators and the state's governor late Thursday regarding the state's plan to allow insurers to sell health plans that fall short of the Affordable Care Act's requirements.

9 Mar 2018

Bundled payment model for knee and hip replacements more likely to work better for larger hospitals

Medicare's experimental mandatory bundled payment model for knee and hip replacements is more likely to yield cost savings when the surgeries are performed in larger hospitals that do more of these procedures, according to a study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

7 Mar 2018

Researchers develop single blood test that screens for 8 cancer types

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers developed a single blood test that screens for eight common cancer types and helps identify the location of the cancer.

19 Jan 2018

Insurer tries a soft touch — puppies! — for this year’s hard sell of Obamacare plans

Can a puppy video get you to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges? Florida Blue, a major insurer in that state, hopes the answer is yes.

6 Nov 2017

Rising health insurance costs frighten some early retirees

Don and Debra Clark of Springfield, Mo., are glad they have health insurance. Don is 56 and Debra is 58. The Clarks say they know the risk of an unexpected illness or medical event is rising as they age and they must have coverage.

1 Nov 2017

Online education enhances administration of blood clot-preventing medications

Results of a yearlong study funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) with more than 900 nurses at The Johns Hopkins Hospital suggest that well-designed online education can decrease the rate of nonadministration of prescribed and necessary doses of blood thinners to prevent potentially lethal blood clots in hospitalized patients.

16 Aug 2017

When high deductibles hurt: Even insured patients postpone care

In November 2015, Tina Heck was in her garage lifting 40-pound bags of wood pellets to fuel her heating stove, when something went very wrong with her back.

28 Jul 2017

Millions more uninsured could impact health of those with insurance, too

Much has been written lately about how individuals' health could suffer if they lose insurance under the health proposals circulating in the U.S. House and Senate.

14 Jul 2017

AARP: States lag in keeping Medicaid enrollees out of nursing homes

States are making tepid progress helping millions of elderly and disabled people on Medicaid avoid costly nursing home care by arranging home or community services for them instead, according to an AARP report released Wednesday.

14 Jun 2017

'Mismatch repair' genetic defects drive cancer patient's response to immunotherapy drugs

In an expanded, three-year clinical trial of 86 patients with colorectal and 11 other kinds of cancer that have so-called 'mismatch repair' genetic defects, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy have found that half of the patients respond to an immunotherapy drug called pembrolizumab.

9 Jun 2017