The DNA Dilemma: Desperate for a Diagnosis?
June 11, 2008
Yesterday, we posted on last month’s passage of the Federal Government’s Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
We hope that the law will help protect Americans’ coverage and employment despite their genetic likelihood for disease. This should allow them to feel more comfortable with seeking information about their own DNA in order to better manage their health.
Prior to this legislation passing, however, patients were seeking more private ways of testing their DNA - primarily through take-home kits.
DNA, Disease, and Discrimination
June 10, 2008
Can you imagine being faced with the difficult decision of having your breasts removed - not because you have breast cancer, but because you’ve determined that you carry the genes for it? Women at risk for the disease can now find out whether they have the same DNA that killed their mothers and grandmothers.
In recent years, advances in genetic research have helped push medicine into realms once reserved for science fiction.
In the 1850s there were only 140 categories of disease, differentiated by their symptoms. By 1993, genetic mapping had allowed scientists to distinguish 12,000 categories of disease, to determine that some diseases were linked genetically despite having widely different symptoms, and to find better drugs and measures to treat or prevent these diseases.
Insurers Dropping Patients Should Think Twice
April 24, 2008
UPDATE:
On April 17, California’s Department of Managed Health Care announced the state’s most assertive stance yet on policy recission: that an independent arbiter will review and hold accountable the state’s 5 major insurers for its past 4 years of canceled policies. Thousands of people will have a chance to win back their coverage and be reimbursed by the insurers for outstanding medical bills if they were deemed to have had their coverage wrongly rescinded.
Originally posted March 17, 2008:
Black Market Benefits
February 22, 2008
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photo by Scott Maira |
With the ever-increasing difficulty of securing health coverage it shouldn’t be surprising that criminal agents are taking advantage of people’s desperation. Black market benefits – obtaining health coverage via medical identity theft - are a growing phenomenon. Opportunists can take the information from your health insurance card and use it to obtain medical treatment or prescription drugs without the real benefit holders’ knowledge.
Microsoft Launches HealthVault
November 26, 2007
Microsoft has done it again. While Americans have been hearing inklings of the progress being made on digitizing their health records for a decade, that day may be fast approaching. Banks and retailers have long known how to provide account access to consumers through the internet. But a large majority of doctors’ offices and hospitals use paper records only. While there have always been privacy concerns about storing a patient’s medical history online, the benefits of doing so are compelling.
- What if you could access your cholesterol levels or immunizations online, without having to call your doctor?
My Doctor, the Boss
October 22, 2007
As employer health costs rise, large employers (as many as 30% of them by next year) are building on-site health clinics for their employees - and saving millions. Companies like Perdue, Toyota, Pepsi and Sprint Nextel are returning to the days, not so long ago, when workers’ health care was a company affair. These employees now get access to cheaper doctor visits while on the clock. But current loopholes in HIPAA (the health care privacy law) beg the question: will an employee with a drug problem feel safe getting treatment at work?
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