Category: Health Facts

Today, the White House released state fact sheets that highlight how the Inflation Reduction Act lowers health care costs for Americans nationwide. The fact sheets highlight how millions of Americans across all 50 states and the District of Columbia will benefit from Medicare finally having the power to negotiate prescription drug prices, will gain peace of mind from knowing that their out-of-pocket prescription drug costs are capped at $2,000 annually in Medicare, and will save hundreds of dollars per year on health insurance premiums because of the law.

After three decades of attempts, the Inflation Reduction Act takes on one of the most powerful special interests in history – the pharmaceutical lobby – to deliver cost savings directly to American families. And, it protects the progress made under the Biden-Harris Administration to give more Americans access to affordable health insurance coverage, bringing the uninsured rate to an all-time low. By

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5 facts about mental health care during the first year of the pandemic

Woman on couch looking sad

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental health in America, the full scope of which is still unfolding. Social isolation, the shutdown of schools and businesses, and restrictions on in-person health care services became the new normal by mid-2020. Yet even before the pandemic, mental health advocates raised concerns over the mental health needs of Americans.

For that reason, Foothold Technology identified five insights about mental health and mental health care during 2020, using data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

One in 5 people live with a mental health issue, according to findings from a 2020 SAMHSA study. This and other similar statistics serve as a catalyst for the agency’s mental health awareness campaigns; however, the pandemic made the need for

TORONTO, Aug. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

The following is a statement by the Ontario Health Coalition:

Here are the facts about the Ford government’s new legislation, Bills 7 – More Beds, Better Care Act, 2022, which was introduced in the Legislature last week and is currently under debate. The government has made an array of claims, some of which have been printed in major media stories, that do not accord with the facts. Here are the facts:

1. There are 38,000 people waiting for a long-term care home in Ontario. The reason that there are Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients in hospitals waiting for LTC is the LTC wait list. The only long-term care homes that do not have long waiting lists are those to which people do not want to go.

2. The pandemic exposed horrific conditions of care and living in some long-term care

You already know a few basic facts: Stay Hydrated! Eat properly! Exercise! But, as it turns out, there’s a lot more to it than that, continue reading to ignite your curiosity:

10. Mental health benefits from meditation more than vacations

Researchers from the Netherlands studied 91 female volunteers and divided them into three groups – those who meditated regularly, and those who had never meditated, both groups committed to 12 hours of mindfulness training over the course of a regular workweek and the third group who would let go of meditation entirely in favor of a week-long vacation.


While all 3 groups reported benefits of lowered stress and improved mood, the participants that continued meditating showed positive results 10 months later too, while the vacationers returned to their normal states after their trips ended.

9. There is a link between depression and drinking coffee
We hear a lot

Someone who has a rare or serious disease needs a double dose of education: After learning all about their health condition, patients and caregivers then need to understand how to manage health care bills and insurance coverage.

It can be overwhelming, but the Immune Deficiency Foundation recently held a webinar to help people who have immune deficiency diseases understand how health insurance works.

Stephanie Steele, IDF’s PI Community Engagement Manager, and Abraham Yunis, IDF’s Director of Payer Relations and Policy, offered these tips. We also added advice from CSL Behring’s Kris McFalls, Senior Manager for Reimbursement and Access.

1. Know what to look for in an insurance plan. Check www.healthcare.gov to learn about options. Consider your current providers and if you want to stick with them, choose a plan that includes them as “in-network,” which means that

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.

A Cure for Ambulance Sticker Shock

This is a comment about your recent story on ambulance surprise bills (“The Ambulance Chased One Patient Into Collections,” July 27). In the story, three siblings were taken from an accident in three separate ambulances, then charged vastly different rates.

In Oklahoma City, we pay $3.65 a month on our water bills to fund EMSA (Emergency Medical Services Authority), a public ambulance service. If you need a ride in one, that premium covers it for anyone in your household. The payment is opt-out, so most everyone pays it. Non-water customers (like those in apartments whose rent covers utilities) can buy in, too. It might still be expensive for out-of-town visitors, however.

The EMSA premium works. You should

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can damage the optic nerve and ultimately result in blindness. About 3 million Americans are living with glaucoma.

Of the various types of glaucoma, open-angle glaucoma is the most common. Since this type often has no signs, about half of those with this condition have no idea they have glaucoma.

This article will highlight facts and statistics that can offer you a deeper understanding of glaucoma.

What Is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is characterized by a rise in pressure in the eye that can damage the optic nerve, a nerve bundle that sends signals from the eye to the brain. The way the pressure rises in the eye depends on the type of glaucoma.

How Common Is Glaucoma?

In the United States, the prevalence for glaucoma is about 19 out of 1,000 people. This translates to about 22 out of

Palliative care and hospice care have a number of things in common. Both are designed to help people living with a serious illness and to help improve their quality of life. But it’s important to understand that palliative and hospice care aren’t the same thing. So what is palliative care?

Nicole Apprill

“Palliative care improves the quality of life for people with serious or chronic life-limiting illnesses such as COPD, heart failure, cancer, renal disease and dementia,” explains Nicole Apprill, a nurse practitioner with LMH Health’s Palliative Support Services. “We provide this care in concert with a patient’s healthcare treatment in order to help improve their quality of life.”

Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient and not their prognosis. It’s appropriate at any age and stage of illness and can be provided along with curative treatment. The team provides:

• Pain and symptom management
• Patient

There are several different subtypes of breast cancer, and treatment can vary depending on the type. In 2022, it was estimated that approximately 287,850 women in the United States would be diagnosed with breast cancer.

About 10%–15% of those cases would be triple-negative breast cancer, although some studies even estimated the incidence to be as high as 24% of newly diagnosed breast cancers.

This article will review some important facts and statistics you should know about this subtype of breast cancer.

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Overview

Triple-negative breast cancer is breast cancer in which the cancer cells do not have estrogen or progesterone receptors (ER or PR) and don’t make any of the protein called human epidermal growth factor (HER2).

Treatments such as hormone therapies or targeted therapy like Herceptin (trastuzumab) won’t work for triple-negative breast cancer.

How Common Is Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?

Triple negative breast cancer

Many workers in the US misunderstand basic facts about health insurance and remain elements of how to select the most appropriate health plan offered by their employer during annual open enrollment, new research shows. As a result, they—and their employers—may be spending more than they should on health coverage.

Confusion remains high around key terms such as “deductible” and “co-pay,” while the workings of health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are often a mystery.

Knowledge Gaps

A lack of understanding about health benefits can lead to uncertainty and stress during open enrollment, according to HR software firm Justworks’
Health Insurance Knowledge Snapshotbased on a June 9-13 survey among 1,040 US adults employed full or part time.

Over half of employed Americans (53 percent) don’t feel they are getting the most out of the health insurance options available to them. A similar proportion (54 percent) don’t know