Health & Safety

Health & Safety

Health Exchanges Brace For A December Deluge

1:11pm November 25, 2013

by Julie Rovner

After a rocky start, the HealthCare.gov website is supposed to be able to handle 50,000 simultaneous users by the end of the month. That figure would represent about double the site's current capacity. An expected surge in demand will present a new test.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

Families USA: 71% of Individual Health Care Market Eligible for Subsidies

10:31am November 25, 2013

A study released last week by Families USA claims that less than one percent of those with individual health coverage are likely to lose their current insurance.

Queue Listen Now

Regular nut consumers had about a 20 percent reduction in all-cause mortality, including lower death rates from heart disease and cancer, a study found.

Health & Safety

Nuts For Longevity: Daily Handful Is Linked To Longer Life

3:02pm November 22, 2013

by Allison Aubrey

Men and women who were regularly munching on peanuts or tree nuts in their 30s and 40s were significantly more likely to reach their 70s, a study found. Researchers say they aren't sure why nuts promote longevity, but they think it has to do with how they affect metabolism and satiety.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

Medicare Project May Provide Better Care Less Expensively

6:55am November 21, 2013

by Jenny Gold

Fort Dodge, Iowa, is not exactly what you'd think of as a hotbed of health care innovation. But the small town in the western part of the state is part of a Medicare pilot project that economists say could be a pathway to the holy grail of health care: providing better care at a lower cost.

Queue Listen Now

Low-income adults formerly had few options for free health care. Leah Sessor had her blood pressure taken on April 14, 2012, during a free clinic at a racetrack in Bristol, Tenn.

Medicaid Enrollment Is Brisk Despite HealthCare.gov Troubles

11:16pm November 20, 2013

by Julie Rovner

If you advertise it, they will come. Sign-ups for Medicaid are brisk, even in states that haven't expanded their programs with an infusion of federal dollars. Experts call that the "woodwork effect" — getting the word out to people who were already eligible.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

State Expedites 2014 Health Insurance Rates to Stave Off Cancelations

12:10pm November 20, 2013

State Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin is taking steps to reduce the number of health insurance cancelations as a result of the Affordable Care Act. More than 473,000 North Carolinians have received notice from their insurance companies that their plans have been terminated. Goodwin announced last week an expedited review for insurers to speed up the 2014 rates.

The authors of the Affordable Care Act included ways to offset the anticipated cost of subsidies.

How The Affordable Care Act Pays For Insurance Subsidies

3:44pm November 19, 2013

by John Ydstie

The health care law is helping low- and middle-income Americans pay for their insurance. Where does that money come from? In part, it is a matter of the well-off helping pay for those who have less. But that's not the full answer.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs Turn Up Again In Turkey Meat

5:29pm November 18, 2013

Turkey producers contend that they use antibiotics judiciously to help keep their flocks healthy.

Queue Listen Now

These pigs, newly weaned from their mothers, are at their most vulnerable stage of life. They're getting antibiotics in their water to ward off bacterial infection.

Are Antibiotics On The Farm Risky Business?

5:25pm November 18, 2013

by Dan Charles

Farmers give antibiotics routinely to pigs, beef cattle and poultry. They say the drugs help keep animals healthy and get them to market faster. Others say this practice practically guarantees that bacteria will develop resistance to these antibiotics more quickly, endangering human lives and the long-term viability of the drugs.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

New Cancer Resource Center Provides Free Financial Services to Cancer Patients in Rockingham County

4:41pm November 18, 2013

by Keri Brown

A Rockingham County man lost his battle with prostate cancer in 2001, but his vision to help fellow cancer patients financially still lives on today.

Queue Listen Now