Tag • #us healthcare

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Rise in pregnant women turned away from US emergency rooms, papers show

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 19 April - 20:01

Cases listed in federal documents raise alarms around emergency pregnancy care, especially in states with strict abortion laws

One woman miscarried in the restroom lobby of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her to the hospital.

Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn’t offer an ultrasound, and the baby later died.

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Rate of sterilizations in US jumped after overturning of Roe v Wade, study shows

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 12 April - 15:44

Number of people seeking permanent contraception increased after 2022 decision, in particular among women, research reveals

Rates of people seeking permanent contraception – such as tubal ligation or vasectomies – shot up after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, in the Dobbs decision.

Although both procedures increased, the rate of increase was double for tubal ligations, commonly known as a woman getting her “tubes tied”.

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Havana syndrome: will we ever understand what happened? – podcast

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 21 March - 05:00

In late 2016, US officials in Cuba’s capital began experiencing a mysterious and often debilitating set of symptoms that came to be known as Havana syndrome. As two new studies into the condition are published, Ian Sample speaks to the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, who has been following the story, and to the consultant neurologist Prof Jon Stone, about what could be behind the condition

Follow all of Julian Borger’s reporting here

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Medical studies find no trace of physical harm in Havana syndrome patients

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 17:04

Two new studies find no significant differences between US government officials suffering from condition and control group

Two new medical studies have found that US government officials suffering from Havana syndrome symptoms did not show any discernible physical damage or alteration.

One of the studies published on Monday by the federally funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined brain imaging, while the other looked at blood biomarkers and clinical assessments of hearing, vision, hand-eye coordination, cognitive ability and balance.

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Alabama governor signs law protecting IVF providers from lawsuits

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 7 March - 05:29

Some IVF providers say the legislation will allow services to restart, but claim it does not address the legal status of embryos

Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, has signed into law new legislation that will shield IVF providers from the fallout of a court ruling that equated frozen embryos with children.

The new law protects providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution in the event of “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services.

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I’m in awful pain, on a morphine drip – and still I’m thinking about the cost. This is US healthcare after all | Emma Brockes

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 22 February - 10:00 · 1 minute

The call centre for my insurer is in Scotland but the system is all-American. When the bills arrive, the hurt begins all over again

I have lived for long enough in the US to be acclimated to most of the cultural differences, starting with 20% tipping and ending with the customary address of strangers as “sir”, or “ma’am”, as opposed to the dithery British “er, excuse me?”. The exception to this, of course, is US healthcare , which will never strike me as less than outlandish. So it was, last week, when I had cause to call 911 in the middle of the night, but only after putting in a call to my insurers to request pre-authorisation.

If you take the narrowest view, there are aspects of US healthcare that are superior to the UK and European models. In the early hours of last Thursday morning, I knew, for example, that an ambulance would arrive at my door within 10 minutes and probably sooner, no questions asked. I knew that, once I’d been discharged from the ER, I would be able to choose my own doctor for follow-up care, and have some say in how, where and when I was treated. I also knew, with a certainty that I suspect deepened the back spasms that kicked off the whole thing in the first place, that if I didn’t take the necessary steps, I would be receiving a $3,000 invoice from my insurers for the cost of the ride – and that even if I did everything right, there was no guarantee.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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The Kaiser Strike Is Only Part of What’s Ailing U.S. Health Care

news.movim.eu / TheNewYorkTimes · Thursday, 5 October, 2023 - 18:22

Health care policymakers and industry leaders must reckon with the difficulties facing workers if we want to avert strikes.

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More and more Americans are skipping medical care due to money woes

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 24 May, 2023 - 22:11

Enlarge (credit: health.mil )

The percentage of American adults who say they skipped medical care due to costs rose significantly last year, hitting 28 percent. That's up from 24 percent in 2021 and 23 percent in 2020, according to a survey out this week from the Federal Reserve titled Economic Well-Being of US Households in 2022 .

The percentage of people skipping medical care due to money woes is now at the highest point since 2014, when the country was on a downward slide as the Affordable Care Act came into full effect, offering affordable health insurance options to all Americans. The percentage of Americans reporting skipped medical care due to costs in 2013 was 32 percent, then 31 percent in 2014, and down to 27 percent in 2015.

The Federal Reserve's Survey reported that people without health insurance were significantly more likely to skip medical care due to costs than those with insurance in 2022—42 percent of uninsured said they missed care because they couldn't afford it, versus 26 percent of insured adults who said the same.

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US still has the worst, most expensive health care of any high-income country

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 31 January, 2023 - 21:18 · 1 minute

A woman watches white flags on the National Mall on September 18, 2021, in Washington, DC. Over 660,000 white flags were installed here to honor Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19.

Enlarge / A woman watches white flags on the National Mall on September 18, 2021, in Washington, DC. Over 660,000 white flags were installed here to honor Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19. (credit: Getty | Chen Mengtong )

Americans spend an exorbitant amount of money on health care and have for years. As a country, the US spends more on health care than any other high-income country in the world—on the basis of both per-person costs and a share of gross domestic product. Yet, you wouldn't know it from looking at major health metrics in years past; the US has relatively abysmal health. And, if anything, the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the US health care system's failures relative to its peers, according to a new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund .

Health care spending of high income-countries by share of GDP. (credit: The Commonwealth Fund )

Compared with other high-income peers, the US has the shortest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of avoidable deaths, the highest rate of newborn deaths, the highest rate of maternal deaths, the highest rate of adults with multiple chronic conditions, and the highest rate of obesity, the new analysis found.

"Americans are living shorter, less healthy lives because our health system is not working as well as it could be," Munira Gunja, lead author of the analysis and a senior researcher for The Commonwealth Fund’s International Program in Health Policy and Practice Innovation, said in a press statement. "To catch up with other high-income countries, the administration and Congress would have to expand access to health care, act aggressively to control costs, and invest in health equity and social services we know can lead to a healthier population."

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