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Sticker shock: Obamacare customers confront premium spikes as Congress dithers

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

We’ve been here before: congressional Democrats and Republicans sparring over the future of the Affordable Care Act.

But this time there’s an extra complication. Though it’s the middle of open enrollment, lawmakers are still debating whether to extend the subsidies that have given consumers extra help paying their health insurance ...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Health care consolidation and rising costs happen, but Obamacare is not the key culprit

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In a recent "Meet the Press" appearance, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., joined a growing number of Republicans who are speaking out against Obamacare. One of his lines of attack: that the Affordable Care Act fueled health care consolidation.

“What Democrats did 15 years ago was they radically changed all health care in America. They moved all ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Managing grief during the holiday season

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: In the past few years, my mom passed away, and I lost a dear friend. The holidays were always a special time for us. Since their deaths, the holidays are really hard. Do you have any suggestions for managing this grief?

ANSWER: The holiday season can be especially challenging if you're mourning the death of someone close to ...Read more

Investigating Whether Vaccine Side Effects Are Underreported

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: You recently posted a couple of articles about the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and the benefits versus the risks. I know the risks are based on data. But I wonder how many people have severe reactions to the vaccine, and it doesn't get reported because they don't end up going to the hospital or the doctor.

I ...Read more

The power of prehab

Did you know that one out of every nine people in the U.S. reports undergoing at least one surgical procedure in the past year? Or that for folks receiving Medicare, that number hits one in five? Unfortunately, things don't always go smoothly.

A study in The BMJ identified adverse events in more than one-third of U.S. patients admitted to the ...Read more

Physicians raise concerns about federal hep B vaccine change

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Providers are reeling from a change last week by a federal agency responsible for setting and updating vaccination guidelines for American children and adults.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which crafts critical guidelines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then adopts and provides to the public, voted 8-3 ...Read more

Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America/TNS

'We have failed': Murkowski, Sullivan call for compromise after Democratic proposal to extend health care subsidies stalls

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Alaska's U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan were among four Republicans who joined the chamber's Democrats to vote in favor of a measure that would have extended health insurance subsidies used by millions of Americans, including thousands in Alaska.

Still, the bill failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to pass amid opposition from most...Read more

HECTOR AMEZCUA/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

With Senate saying no to extending health subsidies, what happens now?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — Health insurance premiums for Obamacare-inspired policies are about to double for Californians, as hope Congress will come to the rescue got a big setback Thursday

COVID-era credits for people with Affordable Care Act marketplace health care policies will expire at the end of this month. That’s likely to mean an increase ...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal Constitution/TNS

Senate vote rejecting health subsidies sets up Georgia's 2026 race

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday failed to pass a Democratic measure extending health insurance subsidies that help millions of Americans afford medical coverage.

Four Republicans voted with Democrats in support of the bill to keep the subsidies going for three more years, but that was short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a ...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Senate blocks plan to continue Obamacare subsidies after this month

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday rejected plans from Republicans and Democrats to ease soaring health care costs, making it more likely many people face health insurance premiums that could double shortly.

COVID-era credits for people with Obamacare-inspired health care policies will expire at the end of this month.

Senate Democrats ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Plan-switching, sign-up impersonations: Obamacare enrollment fraud persists

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Florida resident Keith Jones says his Affordable Care Act insurance plan was changed multiple times this year without his permission. Now the 52-year-old is struggling with his health problems while facing large premium bills he says he shouldn’t owe.

The third time, he sought help from an insurance agent, who got Jones on the phone with the ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Medicare's new AI experiment sparks alarm among doctors, lawmakers

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A Medicare pilot program will allow private companies to use artificial intelligence to review older Americans’ requests for certain medical care — and will reward the companies when they deny it.

In January, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will launch the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model to ...Read more

Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Under Kennedy, America's health department is in the business of promoting Kennedy

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wields one of the louder megaphones the federal government has. Yet he insists he doesn’t want to impose his opinions on Americans.

“I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me,” Kennedy told a Democratic congressman in May.

Kennedy once expressed different ...Read more

The Philadelphia Inquirer-Tribcast/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Drugs took both her sons and her leg. Now, Kelly Wyatt is committed to staying sober

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — Kelly Wyatt winced as a nurse unwrapped layers of gauze from her left leg, exposing the massive wound beneath.

Yellow and red and gray, weeping plasma and agonizingly painful at the slightest touch, it covered almost the entirety of the end of her leg — the site of the amputation she had undergone four years before.

...Read more

(Andrew Jones/KFF Health News)/KFF Health News/TNS

A North Carolina hospital was slated to open in 2025. Mired in bureaucracy, it's still a dirt field

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Madison County, tucked in the mountains of western North Carolina, has no hospital and just three ambulances serving its roughly 22,000 people.

The ambulances frequently travel back and forth to Mission Hospital in Asheville, the largest and most central hospital in the region. Trips can take more than two hours, according to Mark Snelson, ...Read more

Comparing Treatments For BPH, From Tamsulosin To Surgery

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and I am taking tamsulosin daily. It works and helps with my daily urination. How long should I continue to take it? Are there any related side effects? Or should I consider an eventual prostatectomy? Thank you. -- A.

ANSWER: Tamsulosin is an effective treatment for most men with ...Read more

Surprise! A cup of coffee actually reduces your AFib risks

For years, doctors have told the 10 million atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients in the U.S. to avoid drinking coffee. But the DECAF study (Does Eliminating Coffee Avoid Fibrillation?), conducted by researchers in California and Australia, reveals that one cup or one shot of espresso daily (not more) has a very positive benefit. Over six months, ...Read more

Abby Drey/Centre Daily Times/TNS

Idaho donor dies of rabies, transmits virus via kidney transplant, CDC says

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

An Idaho man who died of rabies passed the virus to another man through a kidney transplant, marking the fourth known instance in the country in nearly half a century where rabies was transmitted from an organ donor to a recipient.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday, Dec. 4, that the Idaho man was in an outbuilding...Read more

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lawmakers hold hope for health care even with partisan Senate votes

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — As the Senate tees up a pair of partisan votes on health care Thursday, senators from both sides of the aisle said debate isn’t over regarding enhanced premium tax credits that millions of people rely on.

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday that he wasn’t ruling out finding a way to extend the tax ...Read more

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Zuma Press/TNS

Moderate House Republicans look to force vote on ACA tax credits

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Wednesday filed a discharge petition to force a vote on a two-year extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, as House GOP leadership eyes a health care vote next week that won’t include such a measure.

The petition had only eight signatures as of Wednesday afternoon, though ...Read more

 

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