WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare is launching a major shift in how it pays for hip and knee replacements. The goal: improve quality and control costs. The Obama administration said on Monday, November 16, that starting April 1, hospitals in 67 metropolitan areas will get a single payment for hip and knee replacements, covering surgery, … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is giving an election-year hearing to a dispute over state regulation of abortion clinics in the court’s first abortion case in eight years. The justices said Friday, November 13, they will hear arguments, probably in March, over a Texas law that would leave about 10 abortion clinics open … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York hospital says a volunteer firefighter has received the most extensive face transplant ever performed. The Mississippi man was badly burned in a fire 14 years ago. The surgery, announced on Monday, November 16, took place in August at the NYU Langone Medical Center. Forty-one-year-old Patrick Hardison is … Continue reading
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An incurable disease has given Jose Gonzalez Ortiz thehealth of an old man at age 42, and the collapsing Puerto Rican health system only adds to his pain. He was refused the $300 worth of monthly medications he needs to treat the degenerative illness known as Lou Gehrig’s … Continue reading
CALAIS, France (AP) — Adnan Kurdu has been living in a world of hurt. For months, he has chewed food to the left of his mouth to try to minimize the pain that starts from a right upper molar and seems, sometimes, to shoot down to his feet. Kurdu finds salvation at one of … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Tim Gunn said he was apprehensive about participating in a bite-size version of “Project Runway” featuring teen designers as young as 13. “I thought,” he recalled in a recent interview, “will I have to soft-pedal my critiques? Is it all going to be watered down? Are they going to be … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Some lit up, others were pretty — and patriotic — in pink and still more burst forth like fireworks. Yes, Tuesday, November 10, was Victoria’s Secret sexpot angel time, though the masses will have to wait until 10 p.m. EST on Dec. 8 to watch the 20th annual lingerie extravaganza … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Medicare beneficiaries will keep paying the same monthly premium for outpatient care next year, the Obama administration said Tuesday, November 10. But new beneficiaries will pay a larger amount, and upper-income retirees are looking at considerably higher charges. Separately, all beneficiaries face a $19 increase in the Part B deductible … Continue reading
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Many cancer treatments have a dark side — they can damage the heart. New research suggests this risk might be lowered in women with breast tumors if they take a heart drug as a preventive measure during their cancer care. If confirmed in wider testing, this could improve care for … Continue reading
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The election of a conservative outsider as Kentucky governor has given Republicans a laboratory to show the rest of the country how they’d replace President Barack Obama’s health care law. Three years into a coverage expansion that has brought the share of uninsured Americans to historically low levels, Matt Bevin’s … Continue reading
PALMAS, Brazil (AP) — Forget New York, Milan or even Paris: With nearly 2,000 native people from around the world rocking their finest traditional garb at the World Indigenous Games, there’s not a catwalk in the world that can compete with this dusty agricultural outpost. Awash in a riot of tropical feathers, draped in … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half of the health care law’s nonprofit insurance co-ops are closing, the Obama administration said Tuesday, November 3, even as it defended the troubled alternative to mega-insurers. Mandy Cohen, a senior official with the Health and Human Services Department, told lawmakers at a hearing that 12 of the nonprofit … Continue reading
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Many Virginia residents seeking insurance coverage on the healthcare exchange will see their premiums go up next year, but rates are rising less in Virginia than in most states, federal officials said. The cost of the mid-level silver plan in Virginia — also called the benchmark plan — will increase … Continue reading
