Hurricane Sandy: Medicare extends enrollment period for those affected
Medicare beneficiaries battered by Superstorm Sandy have one less problem to worry about: Federal officials have extended the Dec. 7 deadline to enroll in a private medical or drug plan for next year...
View ArticleAfter the election: Maine may warm to ‘Obamacare’
North of the Mason-Dixon Line, it’s hard to find a state that has given more of a cold shoulder to President Barack Obama’s health law than Maine. It was one of 27 states that joined the suit to...
View ArticleAfter the election: GOP governors forced to confront health law’s requirements
Republican governors are scrambling to figure out what to do about the health care law, now that President Barack Obama has won reelection and implementation of the Affordable Care Act is about to kick...
View ArticleAfter the election: How do you get into a marijuana study?
Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana use on Tuesday, putting the states at odds with the federal government, which categorizes the drug as dangerous and medically useless. Marijuana...
View ArticleHospitals gamble on urgent care clinics to keep patients healthy
Most of the 9,000 urgent care clinics nationwide are owned by corporation or physicians, but hospital systems are increasingly aiming to get a cut of the booming industry. Hospitals already own about...
View ArticleSmokers may fare worse after colorectal surgery
Smoking has long been linked with slower recovery in general from injuries and surgeries, and now a new study finds that smokers face more complications and higher chances of death following major...
View ArticleHealth system touted by Obama not yet endorsing Medicaid expansion
Intermountain Healthcare, the Salt Lake City-based hospital system praised by President Barack Obama as being a model for low-cost, high quality care, says it is not convinced Utah should expand...
View ArticleGlobal deal reached to fight tobacco smuggling
Global health officials agreed a deal on Monday, Nov. 12, to fight smuggling of tobacco products, a trade which robs governments of more than $40 billion in revenue each year and undercuts efforts to...
View ArticleStudy: Testing pain drugs on humans could produce better painkillers
In a new twist on animal testing, two pain researchers would like to inflict pain on an unlikely subject: humans. Deliberately inflicting carefully controlled pain on humans — volunteers — and...
View ArticleNew drug helps patients with rare inflammatory diseases
Novartis' Ilaris helps reduce patients' symptoms and the frequency of attacks in two rare inflammatory diseases, mid-stage studies showed, as the Swiss drugmaker looks to expand the use of the...
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