State Healthcare Advocate Kevin Lembo is considering asking for legislation that would force health insurers in Connecticut to offer individual policies to consumers under 65 who have medical ailments. Under current Connecticut law, insurers can, and do, refuse to sell individual policies to applicants with chronic health issues. At least five states have "guaranteed issue" rules, which require individual policies to be sold regardless of a person's health. Lembo says he's researching the idea and is considering proposing the system for Connecticut in the next legislative session.
A number of "self-care" tools developed by companies including Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are attempting to help people monitor their own health and receive feedback from caregivers. Uses include supporting preoperative care and the management of chronic conditions. Some healthcare experts said the technologies have the potential to lower costs by making the delivery of services more efficient and by empowering consumers to take a more-active role in their own care.
In the dark corridors and congested waiting rooms of rural hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, tuberculosis can spread easily. Now several global health aid groups have been trying not only to contain and treat recalcitrant infectious diseases, but also to promote new ways of building hospitals in the world's poorest rural areas. Builders recently broke ground on a new hospital in Rwanda, and its design relies on simple features to reduce the spread of airborne disease. They include outdoor walkways instead of enclosed halls, waiting rooms alfresco, and large windows staggered at different levels on opposing walls to keep air circulating.
In 1994, a series of political ads starring the fictional couple "Harry and Louise" helped sour the public's view of President Bill Clinton's plan for universal health coverage. Now, Harry and Louise are back asking the presidential contenders to make healthcare their top domestic priority. The latest Harry and Louise ads will run during the Democratic and Republican Party conventions. The groups sponsoring the new ad include the National Federation of Independent Business, Families USA, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and trade groups for hospitals.
Older trauma patients are less likely to be transported to an official trauma center for immediate care than younger patients, according to a review of a decade's worth of Maryland's statewide emergency medical services records. The findings also suggest that the difference in care first comes into play as patients reach age 50 and worsens again at age 70. The researchers found that about 18% of trauma patients under the age of 65 were not taken to a trauma center, while almost 50% of patients over the age of 65 were similarly undertreated.
California and Los Angeles County inspectors found serious irregularities in the admission and treatment policies of City of Angels Medical Center four years before authorities raided it and charged its chief executive with providing unnecessary medical services to patients recruited on skid row, according to a report. After inspections in early 2004, state health officials ordered the hospital to correct an array of problems, including accepting patients with "questionable medical criteria for admission." But there is no evidence that the state ever followed up to ensure changes were made.