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Volume IV, Issue 41

Oct. 9 , 2017

New Trump Birth Control Rules May Undermine Obamacare

Tami Luhby reports for CNN on Oct. 6:

Obamacare gave millions of women access to a full range of birth control at no cost. New Trump administration rules unveiled Friday could take that away from many of them. The rules, which take effect immediately, would grant exemptions to employers whose religious or moral beliefs conflict with providing contraceptive coverage.

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According to Ms. Luhby:

The health reform law gave nearly 56 million women access to preventative services -- including birth control -- with no cost-sharing, according to numbers compiled in 2015 by the Obama administration. Some 21% of women of reproductive age covered by a large employer plan spent money on oral contraception in 2012, when the provision took effect, a Kaiser study found. That share dropped to 3.6% in 2014. Women could be saving an estimated $1.4 billion a year on the pill alone, a 2015 University of Pennsylvania study found.

Physician-Patient Relationship Remains Strong but Cost May Challenge Its Future

The Physicians Foundation 2017 Patient Survey was published October 4.

To better understand how Americans are feeling when they step out of the doctor's office, the Foundation issued its second biennial survey gathering responses from a statistically significant national sample of 1,747 U.S. adults between the ages of 27 and 75 who had two visits with the same doctor in the past year. Conducted by Regina Corso Consulting in June 2017 on behalf of the Physicians Foundation, a number of the questions from the survey corresponded with similar questions from the Foundation's 2016 Biennial Physician Survey, in order to compare patients' and physicians' outlook on the healthcare landscape.

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According to the study:

An overwhelming majority of patients (95 percent) report satisfaction with their primary care physician...However, only 11 percent of patients and 14 percent of physicians1 report that they have all the time they need together. This signals a significant challenge to providing high quality care, especially when 90 percent of patients feel the most essential element of a quality healthcare system is a solid physician-patient relationship.

Cancer and obesity

A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) post dated 10/3/17 examines the relationship between cancer and obesity.

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According to the CDC post:

Overweight and obesity are associated with at least 13 different types of cancer. These cancers make up 40% of all cancers diagnosed. About 2 in 3 occur in adults 50-74 years old. Most types of these cancers associated with overweight and obesity increased from 2005-2014. More than half of Americans don't know that overweight and obesity can increase their risk for cancer. Many things are associated with cancer, but avoiding tobacco use and keeping a healthy weight are among the most important things people can do to lower their risk of getting cancer.

FloridaHealthIndustry.com