Saturday, Nov 01st
Last update08:10:46 AM GMT
Health Glance
As lawmakers in Washington debate how to overhaul America's health care system, Americans are becoming poorer and more of them lack any health insurance at all.
The states with the highest average rate of uninsured people from 2006 to 2008 are Texas (24.9 percent), New Mexico (23.0 percent) and Florida (20.5 percent). The states with the lowest uninsured rates are Massachusetts (7.1 percent), Hawaii (8.1 percent) and Minnesota (8.7 percent).
An emerging new form of malaria poses a deadly threat to humans, research has shown. It had been thought the parasite Plasmodium knowlesi infected only monkeys. But it has recently been found to be widespread in humans in Malaysia, and the latest study confirms that it can kill if not treated quickly.
PARENTS are being threatened with having their children taken into care after questioning doctors’ diagnoses or objecting to their medical care.
John Hemming, a Liberal Democrat MP, who campaigns to stop injustices in the family court, said: “Very often care proceedings are used as retaliation by local authorities against ‘uppity’ people who question the system.”
Cases are emerging across the UK:
Eli Lilly and Co. paid doctors in South Carolina for participating in a speakers program in exchange for prescribing the antipsychotic Zyprexa and used golf bets to get more patients on the drug, according to notes by sales representatives.
The allegations are the latest twist in what has become a spate of state lawsuits against the Indianapolis drug maker over its marketing practices.
Antiviral medications such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which are effective in treating the H1N1 swine flu, should be taken only by people hospitalized with the flu or those at high risk for complications from the disease, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
Those at risk include people with underlying health conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, as well as the very young, the elderly, and pregnant women, officials said.
The untimely disappearance of Sally Marrari's medical coverage goes a long way toward explaining why insurance companies are cast as the villain in the health-care reform drama.
"They said I never mentioned I had a back problem," said Marrari, 52, whose coverage with Blue Cross was abruptly canceled in 2006 after a thyroid disorder, fluid in the heart and lupus were diagnosed.
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