Paying for health care

Applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income are often turned down. Here are tips to weather the appeals process.

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Study casts doubt on whether financial rating tools are reliable

Less expensive physicians may not help reduce U.S. health-care costs, a new study suggests.

Insurance plans that use financial incentives and other methods to encourage patients to receive care from doctors who keep medical costs lower are becoming increasingly common. But these efforts may not be based on reliable estimates of doctor performance and may not achieve the intended savings, according to the RAND Corp., a non-profit research organization.

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Federal law protects your privacy as a patient. Find out what your rights are.

When you visit a doctor, you may wonder how your personal information will be used. Can your employer find out you’re being treated for depression? Will your health insurer be told that diabetes runs in your family?

In this age of electronic record-keeping, it’s natural to be concerned about privacy. But certain laws have been put in place to protect you. The most important of these is Title II of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

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As lifesaving devices increase, so do the number of heart attack survivors, Japanese study finds. In Japan, where AEDs are available nationwide, a study found that about 14 percent of people who had bystander-witnessed cardiac arrest from an irregular heart rhythm survived with a good neurological outcome. By contrast, 31.6 percent of those given a shock from a public-access AED survived with minimal neurological consequences.

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Having trouble paying for your Part D coverage? Here’s a program that could help.

Even with Medicare Part D, it’s not always easy to pay for prescriptions. They’re expensive after all, and Medicare can only cover so much. And for those on a fixed income, the burden can be tremendous.

That’s why Social Security offers Extra Help.

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