Archive for the ‘Personal Health’ Category

More space and attention was given to health and fitness at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) than ever before.  This reflects a growing consumer interest in living healthier lives.  Analysts see a big market ahead for tools that keep people fit, measure and motivate physical activity, encourage weight management, and promote healthy eating: all [...]

People are increasingly going to a retail clinic for primary, non-emergency health care.  Retail clinics are less expensive and more accessible than conventional health care providers and studies show the results are largely the same. Also called primary care, mini, walk-in, or convenient care clinics, retail clinics are located in retail stores, pharmacies and supermarkets.  [...]

The burden of paying for long-term care falls disproportionately on the middle class.  If the rich require long-term care services, they have the money to buy what they need.  The poor can be taken care of by Medicaid.  It’s the middle class that’s in trouble here  – they lack the resources needed to cover long-term [...]

The recent failure of the CLASS act is drawing attention to a subject we tend to ignore or avoid – the possibility of costly long-term care in our future.  That possibility is growing with every life-saving medical advance that comes along.  How ironic is that!?  Today, in fact, the above-85-year-olds are the fastest growing population [...]

Many people are disappointed that the CLASS program will not be implemented as planned because it solved a real problem in our society.  CLASS was a government insurance plan intended to relieve the financial burdens of long term care carried by the elderly and disabled unable to care for themselves.  However, the program was deemed [...]

There’s good news and bad news for cancer patients.  New drugs more effective at targeting the deadliest forms of cancer are coming on-line.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that no one can afford them New drugs have always been relatively expensive.  It takes years of research and development, rigorous testing and a [...]

Do people have a right to Health Care? Responses to our informal poll on the subject ranged from “No one has a right to health care”  to “It’s a basic human right for everyone.”  Most poll participants, however, felt certain conditions should be met before health care is provided.  If so, who determines what these [...]

Are you aware that we’re in the midst of a serious whooping cough epidemic?  Nearly 1500 cases have been reported in California so far this year, a 5 fold increase from last year; and many more incidents are under investigation. With months of warm, infection conducive weather ahead, we’re on track to have the worst [...]

Hospitals and surgical care centers are having difficulty controlling deadly infections contracted within their facilities.  As previously cited, 1 in 10 people hospitalized are affected and a total of 100,000 of these die as a result.  But in one sense, we are all affected because the cost of infections, estimated at $30 billion a year [...]

Hospitals can cause deaths unrelated to your reason for being treated there. Infections contracted in the hospital in one year total 2 million people, result in 100,000 deaths and cost about $30 billion a year.  As many as 1 in 10 patients hospitalized in the U.S. will come down with an infection  Unfortunately, the Patient [...]