Monthly Archive for December 2007
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December 20, 2007
Uninsured and Cancer Mortality
From HealthDay:
"If you are uninsured, and you are diagnosed with cancer, you have a 60 percent greater chance of dying from cancer than if you were insured and diagnosed with cancer," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the cancer society.
Posted by: Staff on December 20, 2007
Category: Health Disparities; Uninsured; mortality
December 17, 2007
Medicare Cuts on the Horizon
Ohio Health Policy Review has an article posted regarding a planned 10% cut in Medicare payments to physicians scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2008.
If Congress doesn't override the cut, there are concerns that many physicians might stop accepting Medicare patients.
AssociatedContent.com reports on how this might affect access to care for some senior citizens.
When the cut happens in 2008, more than half of the Medicare physicians will half to reduce their staff by half, and 14 percent of physicians will get out of practicing all together. If the plan to reduce Medicare payments goes as planned, by the year 2015, a 40 percent cut would be imminent. With numbers like that, Medicare physicians would have to reduce their staff by almost 75 percent and almost 60 percent of physicians would stop providing care.
In the recent survey conducted by the American Medical Association on 8,955 physicians, 60 percent responded that they would have to limit the number of new Medicare patients that they treat. It also states that if the 10 percent cut goes into effect, physicians will have to defer investments made into their practices which include the purchase of new equipment.
The Columbus Dispatch has more information on the situation in Ohio.
Posted by: Staff on December 17, 2007
Category: Health Disparities
December 11, 2007
Disparity in Reporting Cancer History
From HealthDay:
Immigrants in the United States may be less likely to report a family history of cancer, which may result in inadequate cancer screening and prevention strategies for that group of patients, a new study says.
The full article can be found at the journal Cancer.
Posted by: Staff on December 11, 2007
Category: Health Disparities; Immigrant Health; Screening
December 10, 2007
Disparities in Food Prices - Healthy Foods Cost More
From NYTimes.com:
Healthy eating really does cost more.
That’s what University of Washington researchers found when they compared the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation. The findings, reported in the current issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, may help explain why the highest rates of obesity are seen among people in lower-income groups.
The complete study can be found in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Posted by: Staff on December 10, 2007
Category: Health Disparities; Nutrition