- Increases Forecast for Employer-Based Health Premiums
- Doctors' Groups Urge Climate Change Action
- Wireless Heart Pumps Could Save Lives: Report
- Broken Heart Increases Heart Attack Risk: Study
- Most U.S. Doctors Support Public Insurance Option: Poll
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Increases Forecast for Employer-Based Health Premiums
Another modest rise in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums this year likely will be followed by larger increases in coming years, says a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
For the third straight year, there was a 5 percent increase in the average annual premium for family coverage, which now stands at more than $13,000, the Associated Press reported. About 74 percent of the premium is paid by employers, while workers cover the rest of the cost.
The average annual premium for single coverage remained relatively flat at $4,824, with employers paying 84 percent.
From 2000 to 2004, premiums increased between 10 percent to 13 percent a year, the AP reported. The smaller premium increases in recent years may be due to the recession and the push for public health reform. Both factors discourage insurance companies from introducing large rate hikes, the report said.
But, the lower premium increases likely won't last, according to Kaiser CEO Drew Altman. "We've historically seen these peaks and valleys before, and we always have a bounce back effect," he told the AP.
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Doctors' Groups Urge Climate Change Action
Failure to tackle climate change could have "catastrophic" health consequences, the heads of 18 doctors' associations warned Wednesday in a joint appeal published in the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.
The doctors urged governments to take decisive action at a U.N. climate change conference scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in early December, Agence France Presse reported.
The letter said doctors must take a lead in speaking out about the urgency of taking action against climate change.
"There is a real danger that politicians will be indecisive, especially in such turbulent economic times as these," the letter stated, AFP reported. "Should their response be weak, the results for international health could be catastrophic."
The many health threats posed by climate change include malnutrition caused by drought, the spread of mosquito-borne diseases to temperate regions, and the risk of cholera caused by flooding, the scientists warned.
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Wireless Heart Pumps Could Save Lives: Report
New technology for a wireless heart pump could save thousands of lives and provide an alternative to heart transplants, according to New Zealand scientists.
The University of Auckland researchers said their technology utilizes magnetic fields to send power through the skin to the heart pump, instead of using wire cables that can cause serious infections, Agence France Presse reported.
A coil that's implanted near the collarbone produces power by picking up a magnetic field produced by a coil that can be carried in a patient's pocket. In addition, a battery placed inside the body can store enough power to operate the heart pump for about an hour.
"We would very much like for it to be the preferred choice for patients to be able to chose this type of pump over a heart transplant," said David Budgett of the University of Auckland's bioengineering institute, AFP reported.
U.S. medical company MicroMed plans to integrate the wireless technology into its heart pumps, the news service said.
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Broken Heart Increases Heart Attack Risk: Study
A broken heart can be a serious health threat, say Australian researchers who found that people mourning the loss of a loved one have a six times greater risk of suffering a heart attack.
The study of 160 people found that those who'd recently experienced the death of a partner or child were at significantly higher risk of heart problems than those who weren't in mourning, Agence France Presse reported.
"We found higher blood pressure, increased heart rate and changes to the immune system and clotting that would increase the risk of heart attack," said lead researcher Thomas Buckley.
The increased risk, believed to be caused by a sudden increase in stress hormones, was reduced after six months and was gone after two years, AFP reported.
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Most U.S. Doctors Support Public Insurance Option: Poll
A majority of American doctors support inclusion of a "public option" to supplement private health care, according to a survey released Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine.
The poll of 2,130 general physicians, specialists and surgeons found that 62.9 percent favored a government insurance plan option, 27.3 percent supported a private system alone, and 9.6 percent backed a completely government-owned health insurance system, Agence France Presse reported.
"It's clear that the majority of U.S. physicians support both public and private options to expand coverage," said the journal, which noted that between 52 percent and 69 percent of Americans support a supplemental public option.
The survey also found that 58.3 percent of doctors back expansion of Medicare to cover people aged 55 and older. Currently, the program is for those over age 65.
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