Archive | December, 2010

The growing costs of health scuttle Boomers’ retirement plans

By on December 29, 2010 in Baby Boomers and Health, Demographics and health, Health reform, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA, Prevention and wellness, Women and health

As household incomes in the U.S. have been, at best, stagnating in the past several years, the cost of health insurance premiums rose three times faster between 2003 and 2009. By 2015, the average premium for a family of four will reach nearly $18,000, according to The Commonwealth Fund. State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003-2009: [...]

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Mayor Bloomberg Gets an “A” for Health

By on December 28, 2010 in Food and health, Prevention and wellness, Public health

One of the favorite holiday gifts I sent people this season was Mark Bittman’s work, The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 recipes for conscious eating. Health Populi’s definition of ‘health’ comes from the World Health Organization: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. So [...]

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What health care IT holds for 2011: politics vs. market realities

By on December 23, 2010 in Electronic health records, Health care information technology, Health Consumers, Health reform, Health social networks, Internet and Health, Medicaid, Medical technology, Mobile health, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Physicians, PPACA, Privacy and security, Remote health monitoring, Telehealth

The one issue in health politics that’s got bipartisan support is health care IT. While Republicans in the House may try to pick away parts of the Affordable Care Act, the HITECH Act — part of the 2009 stimulus package formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — will stay intact, according to [...]

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When with the “Future of Health” happen?

By on December 22, 2010 in Aging and Technology, Bio/life sciences, Health care information technology, Health Consumers, Health Economics, Internet and Health, Medical technology, Mobile health, Personalized medicine, Prevention and wellness, Remote health monitoring, Telehealth

It’s year-end, so the forecasts abound whether we’re talking about trends in technologies, products and services. Gartner says cloud and mobile computing are hot, but managing customer expectations will require heavy lifting  On the food front, Epicurious predicts that food halls will be all the rage (think Harrods in London or Takashimaya in Tokyo), Korean cuisine in demand, and sweet [...]

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The States’ fiscal crisis and health care: a day of reckoning for Medicaid before 2014?

By on December 21, 2010 in Health Economics, Health politics, Health reform, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

It will be A Day of Reckoning, 60 Minutes, the CBS News weekly program, called it. This is the impending economic collapse of U.S. state economies, caused by over-borrowing, pension accounting, lower tax revenues during the recession, expanding services, and Next to the housing collapse of the past few years, this may be the largest threat [...]

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