Tag: David Himmelstein

  • Health

    New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage

    Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002. The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and…

    2–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Health, life insurers hold billions in tobacco stocks

    More than a decade after Harvard Medical School researchers first revealed that life and health insurance companies were major investors in tobacco stocks – prompting calls upon them to divest – the insurance industry has yet to kick the habit, they say. A letter about insurance company holdings, published in the June 4 issue of…

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Dramatic increase in ER waiting time for seriously ill patients

    Patients of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic status are facing ever-increasing waits for care in emergency rooms, according to a study published online today  by the journal Health Affairs. The problem is particularly acute for those who are severely ill, Harvard Medical School researchers at Cambridge Health Alliance found. The study, which analyzed the time…

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    Those least needy most likely to get free drug samples

    Most free drug  samples are  not used to ease  the burden of the poor or the uninsured, but rather go to those most able to pay for their prescriptions, according to a  study by  physicians from Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical   School. The study, which is the first to look at the free drug…

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Almost two million veterans lack health coverage

    One in every eight (12.2 percent) of the 47 million Americans without health insurance is a veteran or member of a veteran’s household, according to a study by Harvard Medical School researchers based at the Cambridge Health Alliance. The study is published in the December, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Just…

    2–3 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Survey: Med students ill prepared for ethical issues faced in wartime

    A new survey of U.S. medical students shows they receive little training about what they should or should not do in wartime, despite ethical questions over physician involvement in prisoner interrogation and a legal framework making a “doctor draft” possible. The study shows that 94 percent of medical students who took an online survey said…

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    Study shows U.S. health care paperwork cost $294.3 billion in 1999

    Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canada’s quasi-official health statistics agency, analyzed the administrative costs of health insurers, employers’ health benefit programs, hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, physicians and other practitioners in the U.S. and Canada. They used data from regulatory agencies and surveys of doctors, and analyzed…

    1–2 minutes