U.S. health insurance market concentration continues to increase

Jeanne Pinder October 1, 2021

U.S. health insurance market concentration continues to increase

Most health insurance markets in the United States are highly concentrated, meaning that millions of Americans have limited health insurer options,” Michael Popke wrote on Benefits Pro. “That’s the key takeaway from a new American Medical Association (AMA) report released this week. The 2021 version of the organization’s “Competition in Health Insurance: A Comprehensive Study […]

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccine: F.D.A. gives full approval to Pfizer vaccine

Jeanne Pinder August 23, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccine: F.D.A. gives full approval to Pfizer vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration granted full approval of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine today, according to a press release. “Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine,” the release said. “The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty (koe-mir’-na-tee), for the prevention […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the unvaccinated: You might be hit with expensive medical bills, employer mandates

Jeanne Pinder August 15, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the unvaccinated: You might be hit with expensive medical bills, employer mandates

“People who choose not to get vaccinated against the coronavirus face greater odds of getting seriously ill and hospitalized –- a decision that could risk not just their health, but their finances as employers mandate vaccination and insurance companies look at ways to pass on the costs of treatment,” Ken Alltucker writes over at USA Today. “More […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccines: The third shot is here, for immunocompromised people. How does it work?

Jeanne Pinder

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccines: The third shot is here, for immunocompromised people. How does it work?

Third shots of the Covid vaccine are now being broadly recommended for people who are immunocompromised. But like a lot of the rest of the vaccine rollout, the change in policy has been a little rocky. The prospect of a third shot has been discussed for quite some time for immunocompromised people. Scientists noticed that […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccine: Who is lying, and about what, and why?

Jeanne Pinder August 2, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccine: Who is lying, and about what, and why?

Perhaps it’s not surprising that we’re hearing of people who are lying — again, or still, or more and more — about the coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine. We’ve heard about people lying about age, about occupation, about place of residence. We’ve heard people lying about whether they were vaccinated or not. What goes into that — […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and disability: Some patients will qualify for aid, Biden says

Jeanne Pinder July 26, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and disability: Some patients will qualify for aid, Biden says

Commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Monday, July 26, President Biden said some long Covid patients would qualify for disability, a development that long Covid patients have been seeking for months. “‘We are bringing agencies together to make sure Americans with long Covid, who have a disability, have access to […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccine: What about boosters, or, if you got Johnson and Johnson, what about getting a second shot?

Jeanne Pinder July 24, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the vaccine: What about boosters, or, if you got Johnson and Johnson, what about getting a second shot?

A number of people who received the Johnson and Johnson covid vaccine (or Astra Zeneca outside of the United States) are seeking a second shot of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, in the belief that the Johnson and Johnson and other vaccines may be safer with a booster. We heard about this from an acquaintance, […]

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ADHD and medications: A guide to navigating pharmacies, getting your meds on time, and insurance

Jeanne Pinder July 15, 2021

ADHD and medications: A guide to navigating pharmacies, getting your meds on time, and insurance

(Editor’s note: This piece was posted on Reddit’s ADHD subreddit, described as “A place where people with ADHD and their loved ones can interact with each other exchanging stories, struggles, and non-medication strategies.” I noticed it there and asked the author if we could post over here, and he gave us the OK to use […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19): The coming mental health crisis

Virginia Jeffries June 30, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19): The coming mental health crisis

The Covid pandemic may appear to be on the decline in the United States, but some experts are saying we have yet to witness another, still unfolding wave of illness and death — the mental health crisis that has been called the fourth wave of the pandemic. ClearHealthCosts spoke to patients and experts around the […]

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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and disability: A year later, and millions of cases later, patients struggle for disability

Jeanne Pinder May 8, 2021

Coronavirus (Covid-19) and disability: A year later, and millions of cases later, patients struggle for disability

J., a long Covid patient from the Midwest, is still suffering extreme symptoms more than a year later — tachycardia, extreme fatigue and other symptoms. Walking the dog around the block, she said, raised her heart rate to 212 beats per minute. Like many other Americans with office jobs, she has been working remotely. Yet […]

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Category: Health plans