Health Care 2.0
June 17, 2008
You may have heard the phrase “Web 2.0.” It refers to how we are now in the second phase of the role that the Internet plays in our lives.
Originally the Web was a source of information and entertainment, written and produced by “professionals.”
In recent years, Internet users have themselves moved onto the Web - actively creating content, blogs, and new software and tools. You could say that the Internet has exploded, and is continuing to explode.
So Health 2.0, then, involves these new ways of using the Web in order to share and make use of health care information. As with Web 2.0, oftentimes this means promoting a very individualized and personal online experience.
Country Living
June 13, 2008
Most Americans live in cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas and suburbs. Around 1 in 5 Americans live in the “country” – farms as well as small towns.
When country folks get really sick or injured, they typically have to make the long trip to a city medical center to get expert help. Though 20% of America’s population is rural, only 9% of its doctors are.
A recent study suggests that special programs in medical school to train students for country caregiving could boost the numbers of doctors available.
When Insurers Take Their Toys and Go Home
May 10, 2008
For the past few years there has been work in cities and states across the country to improve our citizens’ access to health care. From San Francisco to Vermont, 39 states and a number of cities are in the process of creating legislation that would help address their numbers of uninsured.
Washington, D.C. is one of these. A look at the trouble our nation’s capital is facing on this issue may shed a light on why the words “health care reform” are often greeted with less than a smile.
“Is Inequality Making Us Sick?”
April 4, 2008
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in America, the gap between the healthy and the unwell also widens. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released data showing that life expectancy for the most affluent group of Americans exceeds that for the poorest Americans by nearly 4.5 years or 6% on average.
- Health gains for the poor are decades behind those for the wealthiest Americans, whose life expectancy in 1980 was higher than that of the most impoverished in 2000.
Hurricane Katrina Also Destroyed Health Care
March 21, 2008
As of yesterday, heavy rains and melting snows brought rising floodwaters to the U.S., submerging areas stretching from the South through the Midwest towards the Northeast. Thousands of people were forced to flee 250 towns and cities. Images of people escaping their neighborhoods on rowboats and of the tornado that ripped through Atlanta last Friday may have evoked in some recent memories of another terrible weather event in a major Southern city.
This August will mark the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the costliest and one of the most deadly hurricanes in U.S. history. In 2005, the storm swept through coastal Louisiana and Mississippi, and Alabama.
Dallas Does VIPs Better
March 13, 2008
One of the ironies of life is that those most able to pay for something are often the ones who get it for free. Movie stars and celebrities regularly get “gifted” with designer ware and products. Manufacturers know that the rich and famous are trendsetters. How better to advertise a new handbag than have Paris Hilton carry it? As for the free upgrades and complimentary goodies millionaires and billionaires get when they check into a hotel or make a purchase or heck, just show up somewhere? Just another one of the perks of having tons of money, I guess.
Charity Fills the Gap in Health Care
March 3, 2008
Helicopters hover over the remote area. Impoverished locals who have gone months without access to much-needed health care look up and know help has arrived. Soon, the American doctors and their medicines and supplies will be dropped into these people’s midst and will set-up impromptu clinics where, after traveling up to 200 miles and waiting in line for hours, those who arrive first may finally get the health treatment for which they are desperate.
Where is this happening? The United States of America.
Remote Area Medical is a charity that was created to provide health care in Third World countries. Now 60% of its work is done in urban and rural America.
“Freedom and Unity” and Excellent Health
February 28, 2008
If you’ve ever wondered which of our 50 states has the healthiest populace, wonder no longer – someone’s keeping track. For the first time in its 18 years of rankings, the United Health Foundation has placed Vermont at number 1. The Green Mountain State has been steadily climbing in the rankings since taking 8th in 2001, up from an initial position of 16th in 1990.
- Second place went to Minnesota, down from its 1st place finish the last 4 years and in 7 other years since 1990.
- Third place went to Hawaii, followed by New Hampshire, Connecticut and Utah.
SWF Looking for CHC
February 14, 2008
What if you were battling cancer but didn’t have health insurance? How far would you go to get it? Like immigrants who marry citizens to get a green card, at least one person is trying the approach of looking for love - and coverage. Both heartbreaking and humorous, this article has the story of a Seattle woman who used her blog to advertise that she was looking for a Canadian man who would marry her and share his government-sponsored health care coverage.
The Return of the Cavity Creeps
February 1, 2008
Dental care seems to be experiencing the same cost increases that medical care is. Which may be why one in four children and adults - who aren’t necessarily low-income - have untreated cavities. At least twice in 2007, a child died from an infection caused by decayed teeth.
Unlike medical doctors, however, dentists’ salaries are actually rising, in part because their numbers aren’t increasing while the nation’s population is. Limited supply leads to high demand leads to the ability of dentists to charge higher prices, which they’re doing.
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