8 Strategies for Saving Money on Your Health Care

Many U.S. workers don’t fully understand their health care benefits and therefore by rote choose whatever plan they had the previous year, Buckey says. The 2017 Aflac Workforces Report, which surveyed 5,000 employees nationwide, found that 92 percent of workers choose the same health benefits year …

The latest effort to control high healthcare costs was unveiled at the state Capitol on Monday, and it’s already drumming up opposition from insurance companies and physicians. Democratic Assemblymember Ash Kalra of San Jose introduced Assembly Bill 3087 while flanked by supporters from consumer …

Specifically, health care providers must review a brochure for the device with patients to ensure they understand the risks, benefits and other details about Essure implantation. The patient must be given the opportunity to sign an acknowledgment, which must be signed by the physician implanting the …

MONDAY, April 9, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant women who take certain antidepressants may unknowingly compromise the brain development of their child, researchers suggest. The concern is based on a new analysis of brain scans involving nearly 100 newborns, some of whom were born to …

On the other side, office visits to primary care doctors declined 18 percent from 2012 to 2016, even as visits to specialists increased, insurance data analyzed by the Health Care Cost Institute shows. There’s little doubt that the front line of medicine — the traditional family or primary care doctor — has been …

MONDAY, April 9, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Even one night of lost sleep may cause the brain to fill with protein chunks that have long been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study warns. People deprived of sleep for one night experience an immediate and significant increase in …

Dr. Okunrintemi sums up the findings, saying, “[T]hose who were not depressed and yet had a higher risk for depression had worse healthcare experiences, increased use of the emergency room, poorer perception of their health status, and a lower health-related quality of life than those who actually had …

OptumCare has about 30,000 employed and affiliated physicians, while Davita Medical Group has 17,000 physicians and other care providers. HCA Healthcare Inc., the biggest for-profit U.S. hospital system, has about 37,000 doctors, while hospital-and-insurance conglomerate Kaiser Permanente has …

MONDAY, April 9, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Staying physically fit can help ward off heart trouble, even if your genetics put you at higher risk for clogged arteries, a new, large study suggests. The researchers looked at nearly 500,000 middle-aged and older adults and found those with higher fitness levels …