Those carrying around a few pounds extra, or maybe even a lot more, may want to get moving and to drop that excess weight for yet more compelling health causes: That’s because more than 630,000 Americans were diagnosed in 2014 with cancers linked to obesity or overweight, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….
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GOP senators’ Trumpcare: Meaner in many ways than even House plans
After weeks of huddling in partisan secrecy, majority Republicans in the U.S. Senate have coughed up what they’ve dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act , aka their version of Trumpcare. In brief, the GOP Senate bill would: Slash Medicaid, faster and more than the House version, aka the American Health Care Act End the Obama-era….
Continue ReadingBig Tobacco, preying on poor and uneducated, also hikes health inequities
Although most Americans finally may be breaking out of cigarette smoking’s killer grip, Big Tobacco keeps inflicting terrible harm on some of the nation’s most vulnerable—the poor, uneducated, and those who live in rural areas. The federal Centers for Disease Control has just offered its annual assessment on Americans’ smoking habits, providing some rare good news….
Continue ReadingThree ways to keep kids safer this summer
Keeping kids safe is a constant challenge. Here are some new cautions from recent news reports: Seat belts save lives—if used, and correctly Although seat belts can be big lifesavers and a major way to protect passengers from injury, they don’t work if they’re not used—and correctly—especially with children. More than 4 in 10 youngsters killed….
Continue ReadingGOP health proposals paint grim picture — unless you’re rich
President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress haven’t repealed the Affordable Care Act. Yet. Still, analyses show how, as one critic said, the GOP plans a big move of federal money from “health to wealth”—to take support from the poor and middle class, especially from the very voters who put Trump in office, to finance a….
Continue ReadingRhetoric and reality: Will GOP strip up to 32 million of health insurance?
As partisans race to fulfill their seven-year political pledge to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, their rhetoric has collided with reality, posing huge questions as to how responsibly they will act in the days ahead in regard to Americans’ health. Curiously, the new president made no mention of health care in….
Continue ReadingAs GOP tries to repeal Obamacare, will Price be architect of its replacement?
The Republican-controlled Senate has launched itself in a late-night session on the path to its long-pledged repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. The GOP-controlled House on Friday the 13th followed close behind. Lawmakers have chosen a complex parliamentary path. GOP members are expressing confusion about their way forward, even as doubts….
Continue ReadingMore spent on health care in U.S. than on everything in Britain
What if you bought the hottest car around, only to find a neighbor found a model just as sporty and paid much less? How would you react if you opened your credit card bill and learned that the family budget was in tatters because your daughter commuted a few blocks to school by taxi, and….
Continue ReadingAmericans’ life expectancy declines and opioid drug deaths rise
Important indicators about Americans’ health and well-being are trending the wrong way: For the first time in almost a quarter century, the nation’s life expectancy has declined. Meantime, fatal overdoses by Americans taking opioid drugs continued to surge and exceeded 30,000 in 2015. And abuse of heroin has exceeded that of traditional prescription painkillers, with deaths….
Continue ReadingAs cancer care advances, costs and concerns keep rising, too
Although doctors and hospitals report potentially sunnier news by the day about novel cancer treatments, it’s also worth keeping in mind that difficult obstacles like data misinterpretation still must be worked out to avoid endangering patients. The therapies themselves as well as cancer care overall can be crushing in their costs. And some experts also are….
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