Health

Republicans in Idaho tried to design a better plan than Obamacare — and failed

NAMPA, Idaho — Jamie Gluch lumbered into the kitchen and pulled from the freezer a bag of corn, the only affordable analgesic he had for his swollen face.<p>“You going to be okay?” asked his wife, 44-year-old Chelle Gluch. Jamie grunted “I’m all right” and joined the children at their in-home day-care …

Health Care

How Systems Engineering Can Help Fix Health Care

When an aircraft manufacturer decides to create a new model, it doesn’t ask pilots and crew to identify the best cabin, wings, jet engines, and other parts, and then put all the pieces together. A plane developed that way wouldn’t fly. The company begins with a goal, such as safely carrying 250 …

Health Care

Most states with largest insurance gains under Obamacare voted for Trump

New Gallup data shows that some of the places that benefited most from the Affordable Care Act were also those that supported the candidate who ran on a campaign of repealing and replacing it.<p>The three states with the biggest declines in uninsured rates — Kentucky, Arkansas, and West Virginia — all …

Health Care

Forget Medicine—This $10 Oil Soothes Anxiety the Natural Way

The medicinal use of essential oils dates back centuries—scientists have detected traces of the ancient practice in Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, and …

Essential Oils

13 Home Remedies for Bronchitis That Might Finally Ease Your Cough

Get some rest<p>When you’re fighting an infection, your body craves down time. It may be tough to power down and log off from work, but it’s …

Wellness

The STD You Have a 75 Percent Chance of Contracting in Your Lifetime

HPV doesn't just impact women. While most research to date has been female-focused (likely due to alarming rates of cervical cancer), a new study …

Public Health

What New Resident Work Hours Mean For Physician Well-Being And Patient Safety

Late last year, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) issued proposed revisions to the Common Program Requirements for …

Health Care

15 Aphrodisiacs for Better Sex

There’s good science behind the buzz/old-wives-tales about aphrodisiac foods like chocolate and oysters, and there are actually many foods and …

Wellness

Science proves that a good night's sleep makes you a smarter learner and leader

Are you pulling all-nighters to crank out work? Your plan may backfire. You may be jeopardizing brain growth and memory.<p>When we turn in for the night, our brains are getting ready to go to work. Sleep provides our brain the time it needs to restore and recalibrate, and prepare to store new …

Wellness

'Implicit bias' may account for a glaring disparity in health care screening

Here’s a startling figure: More than half of Asian Americans with Type 2 diabetes don’t even know they have it. That compares to one in four Americans with the disease overall who are unaware. Even though the American Diabetes Association changed its screening guidelines for Asian Americans, a …

Health Care

Today in Obamacare: Atul Gawande explains why Obamacare repeal is terrible for science

It’s not just patients: researchers are worried about the fate of the preexisting conditions clause<p>Republicans have promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (precise plans, TBD). And there’s rightfully lots of worry about the fate of the preexisting condition clause, which finally …

Health Care

Should I worry about arsenic in my rice?

<b>Does rice really contain harmful quantities of arsenic? Dr Michael Mosley of Trust Me, I'm A Doctor investigates.</b><p>Many of us are regular consumers of rice - UK consumption is on the rise, and in 2015 we ate 150m kg of the stuff. But there have been reports about rice containing inorganic arsenic - a …

Public Health

This is how you make your yoga practice a cardio workout

Obviously yoga has all sorts of benefits—just ask Lena Dunham. But its one drawback (if you can even call it that) is that while you certainly leave …

Yoga

The myth of American bootstrapping is fueling the GOP’s war on health care

At first glance, I don’t look like someone with a disability. But when people look closer, they see the small, plastic pod on my arm. “Is that a nicotine patch?” I get asked on the subway; “I don’t mean to be rude, but what <i>is</i> that?”<p>“It’s an insulin pump,” I explain, hoping to end the conversation …

Health Care

Kick-Start Your Day (and Metabolism) With This Thyroid-Healthy Elixir

Since juicing entered our lives, it's created two camps: those who love it and those who don't. But this new green elixir from MindBodyGreen might be …

Wellness

These Are the Heart Disease Myths You Need to Know About

Though most women are well-acquainted with the pink ribbons that call attention to breast cancer, far fewer know that February is American Heart Month, when the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign strives to bring visibility to heart disease in women: the leading cause of female …

Diabetes

'Massive Confusion' For Insurers As GOP Wavers On Obamacare Redo

Premiums for Obamacare plans sold by New Mexico Health Connections could rise as little as 7 percent next year, says Martin Hickey, the insurance company's CEO. Or they might soar as much as 40 percent, he said.<p>It all depends on what happens in Washington. Such is the vast uncertainty about how the …

Health Care

The 5 Questions You Should Ask at the Beginning of a Relationship

Whether your mind is speeding ahead after one great date or you’re on the cusp of getting serious with someone you’ve been seeing for a while, find …

Relationships

5 facts you should know about Planned Parenthood

Los Angeles (AFP) - The US health care provider Planned Parenthood, which recently marked its 100th year, is being targeted by antiabortion Republicans who have introduced Congressional legislation to block federal funding for the group.<p>Although the non-profit organization says abortions account …

Health Care

Sen. Mike Lee: House Proposal to Replace Obamacare a ‘Horrible Idea’

Repeal first, then decide what’s next, Utah Republican says<p>Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee on Wednesday criticized a House proposal to include …

U.S. Congress

The opioid epidemic could turn into a pandemic if we’re not careful

The scourge of opioid addiction in the United States was one of the most talked-about issues during the campaign cycle — often panned as a devastating failure of the U.S. medical system.<p>But painting opioid addiction as a uniquely American phenomenon ignores the mounting evidence that opioid abuse …

Addiction

16 percent of seriously injured gunshot victims not treated at trauma centers, study says

Nearly one-sixth of Cook County gunshot victims suffering serious injuries were not treated at trauma centers, according to a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago. But some local emergency medical services directors say the study is misleading.<p>Lee Friedman, associate professor of …

Health Care

For music's 'medical refugees,' Obamacare is a lifeline worth protecting

Last April, doctors told David Ponder, a 57-year-old gospel musician living near San Diego, that his heart was going to fail. He had already had quadruple bypass surgery; without a full transplant he and his music would likely die within months.<p>Three months later, with the help of the National …

Health Care

Obamacare Brought Jobs To Indian Country That Could Vanish With Repeal

Since its founding in the 1950s, the Indian Health Service has provided medical care for many Native Americans. But the service has been chronically underfunded, so often pays for care only if someone is in immediate danger of losing life or limb. In recent years, the Affordable Care Act created …

Health Care

I was thin, fit— and had a heart attack at 28

Back in 2001, when I was just 28, I thought of myself as being in good health. I was a size six and active, a modern dancer. I was working in a consulting firm and had two young sons. But one day I was so exhausted, I had trouble walking up stairs. I figured I just must not be in the best shape—I …

Diabetes

Republican Senator: Health Plan Must Remain Secret Because It Will Be Unpopular

Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act has always been premised on comparing an actual law, with its compromises and trade-offs, to an …

Health Care

Tom Price belongs to a doctors group with unorthodox views on government and health care

Tom Price — congressman, orthopedic surgeon, warrior against government intrusion into medical care — was three minutes into a speech condemning the Affordable Care Act when he asked his hotel ballroom audience of physicians whether they all were on the list to get emails from the federal agency …

Health Care

Many Americans unaware of important heart health numbers: survey

(Reuters Health) - Even though most Americans are worried about dying from a heart attack or stroke, few people know their numbers when it comes to basic risk factors for cardiovascular disease like blood pressure or cholesterol levels, a recent survey suggests.<p>“We have known for a long time that …

Cardiovascular Disease

Gisele Bündchen Starts Her Day With Lemon Water, A Celeb Favorite

Gisele Bündchen’s diet has fascinated people ever since her Boston-based chef revealed that she and husband Tom Brady follow a super-restrictive diet to help them look and feel their best. Now, she’s sharing a few more tidbits about what she uses to fuel herself.<p>In a new interview with <i>People</i>, the …

Diets

The Sanders-Cruz debate - humane health care or free market fundamentalism?

Sen. Bernie Sanders' CNN health care debate with Sen. Ted Cruz Tuesday night was a case study of the competing visions of social justice and free market fundamentalism.<p>The ostensible frame of the debate was on the expected repeal of the Affordable Care Act.<p>But the presence of Sanders on the stage …

Health Care