Health officials are now monitoring 50 people in Texas for signs of Ebola via twice-daily temperature checks, and in recent days, there have been reports of people in other areas of the country — including Washington, D.C.— suspected of having the virus, although most have been ruled out. But why can't all these people just be tested for Ebola as soon as possible? Ebola is difficult to diagnose when a person is first infected because the early symptoms, such as fever, are also symptoms of other diseases, such as malaria and typhoid fever.
As states gear up for round two of Obamacare enrollment next month, they have their sights set on people like Miles Alva. Alva, 28, works part-time at a video store and is about to graduate from Cal State Northridge. Getting insured is about the last thing on his mind. "It's not a priority," the television and cinema arts student said. "I am not interested in paying for health insurance right now." The second round of enrollment under the nation's Affordable Care Act promises to be tougher than the first. Many of those eager to get covered already did, including those with health conditions that had prevented them from getting insurance in the past.
People are starting to get letters telling them their health insurance plans have been canceled because of the Affordable Care Act. Because the letters will go out just before the midterm congressional elections, they are likely to get a lot of attention. There have been several stories this past week. But the people affected will represent only a small fraction of the population with health insurance. The cancellations are occurring at the state level, and some insurance regulators don't require any reporting, so a precise head count is difficult. But it appears that as many as several hundred thousand people will find their plans canceled this year.
Michelle Barnes didn't have any symptoms of the Ebola-like virus that nearly killed her until she was in the air on a flight home to the United States from her Uganda vacation. She had contracted Marburg virus, a "cousin" of the Ebola virus, but the diagnosis wouldn't come until about a year after her nightmare plane ride, three trips to the doctor upon returning to the U.S. and 12-day stay in the hospital as her organs shut down. That was 2008. Today, she watches the coverage of the worst Ebola outbreak in history unfold through different eyes than the rest of us.
When we talk about the Affordable Care Act, we talk about the millions of Americans newly insured under the law. Or the state marketplaces, the Medicaid expansions. Or the Web site kinks. But a host of cost-cutting initiatives are built into the legislation, and partnerships with health providers nationwide — big and small, urban and rural — reduce government spending. The Affordable Care Act caused a major shift in the country's ability to provide people with health-care coverage. But cost-containing remains a challenge: When you give people insurance, they're likely to go out and get the care they weren't getting when they were uninsured. That's a good thing — but it's going to add cost to the program.
A program intended to help poor and uninsured patients get prescription drugs has become an unexpected windfall for hospitals. The program at the center of a new study in the journal Health Affairs was started more than 20 years ago to allow some hospitals to buy medications from drug companies at steep discounts. The intent was to help hospitals care for people who could not afford the drugs or had no insurance to pay for them. But critics say hospitals have taken advantage of the program by selling the drugs they obtain at discounts to insured patients whose health plans reimburse the medicines’ normal prices.