Health Care Policy News
Workers pick up growing insurance tab
Total premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance climbed only 3 percent for family coverage and 5 percent for single coverage, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust report.
WORKERS PAY MORE: Employees, not their companies, absorbed most of those increases. Worker contributions to premiums climbed 14 and 15 percent, respectively, for family and single coverage.
AMA, state societies back plan limiting insurers' administrative spending
Physician and hospital organizations have expressed general support for a proposal from state insurance commissioners on what health insurers should be allowed to consider medical spending under new health system reform regulations. Starting next year, insurers will be required to spend 80% of the premiums they collect for individual and small-group policies on patient care and quality improvement -- 85% of premiums for large-group policies.
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Medicine News
Tight BP Control Flops for Most CKD Patients
Intensive blood pressure control doesn't slow progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in hypertensive patients overall but may help those with baseline proteinuria, according to a randomized trial.
Achieving a target below 130/80 mm Hg didn't prevent a doubling of serum creatinine, end-stage diagnosis, or death in hypertensive CKD patients compared with a standard target of 140/90 mm Hg (hazard ratio 0.91, P=0.27), Lawrence J. Appel, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues found.
Mortality predictors and effects of antithrombotic therapies in atrial fibrillation: insights from ACTIVE-W
This article sought to assess the risk of death after the occurrence of different types of non-fatal events in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Antithrombotic therapies in AF have primarily focused on stroke prevention and bleeding. However, strokes and bleeds differ in severity, and the level of severity may differently impact mortality. In the 3371 patients randomized to vitamin K antagonists and the 3335 patients randomized to clopidogrel plus aspirin in ACTIVE-W, the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals for subsequent death associated with the occurrence of non-fatal stroke was 5.58 . Both ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokesincreased mortality, but transient ischaemic attacks did not. Disabling strokes (Rankin's score ≥3) increased mortality but non-disabling strokes did not. Severe bleeding increased mortality, but major bleeding that was not severe according to the study definitions did not.
Morbidity and Mortality Among Older Individuals With Undiagnosed Celiac Disease
Outcomes of undiagnosed celiac disease (CD) are unclear. This article evaluated the morbidity and mortality of undiagnosed CD in a population-based sample of individuals 50 years of age and older. This study found that with the exception of reduced bone health, older adults with undiagnosed CD had limited comorbidity and no increase in mortality compared with controls. Some subjects were diagnosed with CD within a decade of serum collection, indicating that although most cases of undiagnosed CD are clinically silent, some result in symptoms. Undiagnosed CD can confer benefits and liabilities to older individuals. More Medicine News
