Immunization

Pregnant service members urged to get whooping cough immunization Military health officials are concerned that pregnant service members may be going without an immunization for a respiratory disease that kills more newborns than any other age group. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report issued this month said that only 55% of pregnant women got the pertussis shot to protect their babies against whooping cough, only half got a flu shot and only about a third received both vaccines. “That was a very, very concerning statistic to me,” said Col. Rodney Coldren, chief of preventive medicine services at Public Health Command Europe. “The flu is the best way to protect the mother and the pertussis shot is the best way to protect the baby.” Pregnant women who get influenza are twice as likely to be hospitalized than non-pregnant women who get it, according to the CDC. While no recent figures on immunization rates for service members were immediately available, a 2015 A...

Do you qualify for free health insurance? More than 300,000 Arizonans do, according to one study, but haven't applied. Or maybe you qualify for low cost insurance through the Healthcare Marketplace? Enrollment for that starts Friday. But you may think you make too much. Allen Gjersvig is with the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers . He says too many people don't think they qualify for either program, but actually do. If you don't have employer insurance, you should start with AHCCCS . It's the Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System. It's Arizona's Medicaid and it's basically free. Gjersvig says there may be small copays, but no premiums, no deductibles and no out-of-pocket maximum to pay. You qualify by income. For a single person, you must make $17,236 or less. For a family of four, it's $35,535. If you make more, pay a small premium and kids could still be covered. You choose from a number of companies, with different doc...

Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled a set of waiver proposals Thursday that would remake the individual health insurance market in Georgia, aiming to lower premiums and undo federal control of the Affordable Care Act’s exchange system. The proposals, which Kemp’s aides describe as the first of its kind, involves an ambitious set of components that each must be approved by the federal government to take effect. One part would set aside more than $300 million in public money that the government could pay insurance companies to cover high-cost claims — thus hoping to lower premium prices. A separate and more contentious effort would take on the structure of the ACA exchange market by moving it from federal to state control — bringing with it the $2.7 billion in federal subsidies that reduce costs to lower-income policyholders. "We live in a divided country and in a diverse state," Kemp said, outlining the proposal in his Capitol office before a bank of TV cameras. "But it's ...

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy spoke at a press conference on Thursday in Washington, D.C., on the importance of open enrollment for health care plans, which begins on November 1. Alongside fellow Democratic senators, Murphy talked about the costs advertised during open enrollment and how companies have promoted “junk insurance plans" that give individuals with pre-existing conditions no protection.    “You do a Google search this morning for open enrollment and the first ad that comes up is for a company selling a health insurance plan that costs $30 a month. Well, let me tell you, $30 a month doesn’t get you any health insurance.” Murphy’s statements come after Senate Democrats voted on Wednesday to roll back a Trump administration rule on the plans. https://ift.tt/334xu5R

How can health services research better ensure that high-value health care is consistently and affordably provided to different people, communities, and populations? That’s a fundamental question that this sector must answer if it’s to remain viable. Over the past 50 years, health services research has inarguably contributed to our understanding of how health systems work and how care is most effectively and affordably delivered. For example, it has helped those responsible for the design, delivery, and financing of health care to better understand the effects of cost sharing on consumption and quality of care; how expanding Medicaid can improve health outcomes for low-income patients ; and what everyone can do to reduce medical errors .  At its core, the goal of health services research is to provide evidence that helps policy makers, clinicians, provider organizations, patients, and others make informed decisions that result in better health. When such research is well concei...

View photos Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about. So it might be obvious that you need to consider debt, when you think about how risky any given stock is, because too much debt can sink a company. We can see that Universal Health Services, Inc. ( NYSE:UHS ) does use debt in its business. But is this debt a concern to shareholders? What Risk Does Debt Bring? Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any ne...

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The company that runs Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in five states is unlawfully denying behavioral health benefits to members in violation of generally accepted medical standards, according to a federal lawsuit seeking class action status. The complaint filed Thursday accuses Chicago-based Health Care Service Corporation of denying coverage last year to a young Chicago-area woman suffering from depression, substance use disorder, and borderline personality based on faulty guidelines issued by MCG Health in Seattle. It claims HCSC breached its fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in administering self-insured employer health plans and violated plan terms. It asks the court to issue a permanent injunction against HCSC using the MCG guidelines and instead order it to use guidelines that are consistent with generally accepted medical standards. The plaintiff also requests an order stopping MCG from licensing its guidelines. HCSC said it doesn't commen...

Munson Army Health Center’s ancillary services will be closed from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today. This includes the pharmacy, lab, radiology and the readiness center.  Munson Army Health Center is currently seeking a family physician. Visit usajob.gov to apply. The Shingles vaccine, Shingrix, is available at Munson Army Health Center’s immunization clinic. This is a two-dose series, and patients must be 50 years of age or older to receive the shot. For more information, call 684-6750/6539. The Munson Army Health Center Flu Campaign has begun. For more information, visit https://ift.tt/2OhE3Nz. Munson Army Health Center will follow Fort Leavenworth Garrison for delays and closures due to inclement weather. Updated information will be posted on the Fort Leavenworth Facebook page. Munson Army Health Center is encouraging soldiers and their family members to avoid e-cigarettes and vaping products. Users of e-cigarette or vaping products who experience symptoms of respiratory or g...

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly a decade after receiving U.S. citizenship, Guatemalan-born Mayra Lopez thought she had cleared all the hurdles for her parents to join her in the United States. FILE PHOTO: Hospital beds in the emergency room of a Louisiana hospital. REUTERS/Lee Celano/Files Then on Oct. 4 U.S. President Donald Trump changed the rules she and others had been complying with: Trump signed a proclamation requiring all prospective immigrants to prove they will have U.S. health insurance within 30 days of their arrival or enough money to pay for “reasonably foreseeable medical costs.” The new requirement, part of Republican Trump’s hard-line policies on immigration, goes into effect on Nov. 3 and prospective immigrants are scrambling to figure out how to get the necessary coverage, navigating a complex healthcare bureaucracy that has, for the most part, not previously catered to those who are not yet in the country. The administration gave scant detail ab...

Published: 10/31/2019 11:49:48 AM Modified: 10/31/2019 11:49:37 AM Some 1,400 New Hampshire residents will have to find new health insurance now that the state has told Aliera Healthcare, Inc. and Trinity Healthcare, Inc. to immediately stop selling or renewing insurance here because they are unlicensed. Aliera also markets products under the company name Ensurian. Aliera, an unlicensed insurance company in New Hampshire, has been administering and marketing health coverage on behalf of Trinity Healthshare. Trinity represents itself as a health care sharing ministry, whose members share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs and share medical expenses among members, and which are exempt from state insurance regulation. The New Hampshire Insurance Department said this representation was inaccurate. The Insurance Department’s Consumer Services Division said it received dozens of complaints from consumers, many of whose claims were denied because their medical conditions ...

Arline Feilen (left) and her sister, Kathy McCoy, at their mother's home in the Chicago suburbs. The biggest chunk of Feilen's bill was $16,480 for four nights in a room shared with another patient. McCoy joked that it would have been cheaper to stay at the Ritz-Carlton. Alyssa Schukar for KHN hide caption toggle caption Alyssa Schukar for KHN Arline Feilen (left) and her sister, Kathy McCoy, at their mother's home in the Chicago suburbs. The biggest chunk of Feilen's bill was $16,480 for four nights in a room shared with another patient. McCoy joked that it would have been cheaper to stay at the Ritz-Carlton. Alyssa Schukar for KHN 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. "We were like glue, and that first Mother's Day without her was killer. It just dragged me down," said Feilen, who is 56 and lives...

Open Enrollment for health insurance coverage in 2020 through the Affordable Care Act begins Friday, November 1 through and ends Sunday, December 15. HealthCare.gov and CuidadodeSalud.gov are the official websites for the Federal Health Insurance Exchange, also known as the Marketplace, where U.S. citizens can insurance shop online and enroll and purchase health coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that for the first time HealthCare.gov will also display quality rating information in states that use the site, expanding the information available for consumers in their decision-making when comparing health coverage choices. Also, some new players are joining the Missouri health insurance marketplace this year. “One is in the St. Louis area. It is called WellFirst Health, and it is for the SSM system,” said Nancy Kelley, program director for Expanding Coverage at the Missouri Foundation for Health. “That’s new, and that’s available in St. Lou...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Premiums keep rising, but most employers not changing health insurance carriers - Bizwomen    The Business Journals https://ift.tt/2C10WxC

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United Health Services Inc., which has provided behavioral health services throughout northeastern Connecticut since 1964, has received a grant from the federal government to support a new telemedicine initiative in Windham and Tolland counties. In an announcement Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Joseph D. Courtney, D-2nd District, said the organization was awarded a $319,194 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine program. According to the program’s website, the effort seeks to help rural communities connect to one another through the use of telecommunications. The program can link teachers and medical providers in one area to students and patients in another. Telemedicine is the practice of treating a patient remotely through the use of technology. For example, a medical provider can assess and consult a patient by videoconferencing via a computer or smart phone. Courtney called the grant, which will serve...

“For the second year in a row, health insurance premiums are dropping and there are more plans to choose from,” she said. “These include new ‘value’ plans with more services covered before the deductible kicks in, making these an affordable option for many individuals. And, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange has made it easier than ever for Marylanders to understand their health insurance options and to buy insurance that meets their needs, such as with a mobile app, in-person assistance, and a new health literacy brochure.” https://ift.tt/2N4ewqq

CLOSE Buy Photo Toys for kids to play with are available in the waiting area at St. Clair County Community Mental Health's new facility.   (Photo: Brian Wells/Times Herald) St. Clair County Community Mental Health is still in the process of moving into its new building on 24th Street in Port Huron Township. But program directors said they’re already seeing some of the benefits of having more space. The agency began the move for its children’s services Oct. 7 and was gearing up late last week to move its applied behavioral analysis program in the coming days. To celebrate the new digs, 2415 24th St, officials plan to host an open house Nov. 13. The overall effort is part of a much bigger, multi-million-dollar grant effort that is also making room for expanded substance abuse treatment efforts — through substance use disorder programming with additional therapists — at CMH’s main Electric Avenue building in Port Huron. Space for sub...