health care

A screenshot from sellusdiabeticteststrips.com.

Health & Safety

The Murky World Of Secondhand Diabetic Test Strips

7:28am December 23, 2016

by Rhaina Cohen

Test strips for diabetes can be pricey. Many diabetics are turning to the gray market to buy this necessary medical supply on the cheap. It's not exactly illegal, but it invites risk and uncertainty.

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Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles has been penalized in all three years since the creation of a Medicare program to reduce patient-safety issues in hospitals.

Medicare Penalizes Hospitals In Crackdown On Antibiotic-Resistant Infections

12:24pm December 22, 2016

by Jordan Rau

For the first time, Medicare penalties against hospitals with too many avoidable patient safety complications include fines tied to the prevalence of two types of bacteria resistant to drugs.

Cyclosporine is one of the drugs that organ transplant patients take so the body won't reject the organ.

Medicare Pays For A Kidney Transplant, But Not The Drugs To Keep It Viable

11:13am December 22, 2016

by Richard Harris

The federal government pays for kidney transplants. But the program only pays for essential anti-rejection drugs for three years. Many people can't afford them and can end up losing the kidney.

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A Houston grand jury investigating undercover footage at this Houston Planned Parenthood clinic found no wrongdoing by the clinic and instead indicted anti-abortion activists involved in making misleading videos about the handling of fetal tissue.

Texas Moves To Block Planned Parenthood From Medicaid Funds

7:38pm December 21, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

State health officials say they will cut off millions of dollars of federal funding in 30 days. Federal courts have struck down similar moves in at least three other states.

Third-year dental student Alex Dolbik checks the oral health of a patient at the Refugee Health Clinic in San Antonio.

In Texas, Students Help Provide Health Care For Refugees

6:50pm December 21, 2016

by Wendy Rigby

More refugees have settled in Texas than in any other state. In San Antonio, students at the University of Texas Health Science Center help them get long-deferred medical and dental care.

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Revised Special Insurance Enrollment Rules Shift Burden To Consumers

6:19pm December 21, 2016

by Michelle Andrews

Consumers who want to sign up for health coverage on the federal marketplace after the usual deadline passes may need to do extra work to show they qualify for special enrollment later.

John Evard, 70, at the Las Vegas Recovery Center in Las Vegas last July. Evard, a retired tax attorney, checked into a rehabilitation program to help him quit the prescribed opioids that had left him depressed, groggy and dependent on the drugs.

Opioids Can Derail The Lives Of Older People, Too

4:29pm December 20, 2016

by Jenny Gold

Doctors have commonly managed the persistent pain of people over 65 with prescription opioids. But that has left some still in pain, and with a physical and emotional dependence that can ruin life.

Elderly hospitalized patients taken care of by female doctors had better results than those seen by male doctors.

Patients Cared For By Female Doctors Fare Better Than Those Treated By Men

6:24pm December 19, 2016

If male doctors were as good as their female counterparts at caring for older people in the hospital, about 32,000 fewer patients a year would die. What do female doctors do better than men?

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Doctors Say Parenting And Pot Smoking Don't Mix

3:36pm December 19, 2016

by Jane Greenhalgh

Babies exposed to marijuana smoke have metabolites of the drug in their urine, researchers say. They think that secondhand marijuana smoke will prove to be as dangerous as secondhand tobacco smoke.

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Janet (left) and Jackie Carter's wedding in August 2015. They set up a crowdfunding site to help defray the considerable costs of IVF.

Please, Baby, Please: Some Couples Turn To Crowdfunding For IVF

4:30pm December 18, 2016

by Stephanie O'Neill

Infertility is often a private struggle. But some couples are going public — via crowdfunding sites — to help subsidize in vitro fertilization treatments that can cost as much as $20,000 each time.

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