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Popular Articles

What Are Hives? What Is Urticaria? What Causes Hives?
Hives are also known as urticaria, welts, wheals, or nettle rash. It is a red, raised, itchy skin rash that is sometimes triggered by something that produces an allergic reaction - an allergen. When there is an allergic reaction the body releases a protein called histamine. When histamine is released our capillaries (tiny blood vessels) leak fluid. The fluid accumulates in the skin and causes a rash.

New Genetic Study Of Asperger Syndrome, Autistic Traits And Empathy
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have identified 27 genes that are associated with either Asperger Syndrome (AS) and/or autistic traits and/or empathy. The research is published in the journal Autism Research. This is the first candidate gene study of its kind.
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Mental Health America Applauds Numerous Provisions In House Health Care Reform Bill
David L. Shern, Ph.D., President and CEO of Mental Health America, will testify on Tuesday, June 23 before the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee in a hearing to discuss a comprehensive health care reform bill unveiled last week by the Chairmen of the three lead health care reform committees in the House of Representatives: Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor.
Mental Health

Insurers Revoke Plans To Avoid Paying For Patients With High Costs

A Congressional committee recently turned its attention to rescission, a practice where insurers retroactively revoke plans to avoid paying high costs. NPR reports: "According to a new report by congressional investigators, an insurance company practice of retroactively canceling health insurance is fairly common, and it saves insurers a lot of money. A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently held a hearing about the report"s findings in an effort to bring a halt to this practice. But at the hearing, insurance executives told lawmakers they have no plans to stop rescinding policies." NPR reports: "The process begins after a policyholder has been diagnosed with an expensive condition such as cancer. The insurer then reviews the health status information in the questionnaire, and if anything is missing, the policy may be rescinded. The omission from the application may be deliberate, to hide a health condition that might have made the applicant ineligible for insurance. But sometimes there"s an innocent explanation: The policyholder may not have known about a health condition, or may not have thought it was relevant. The rescissions based on omissions or immaterial conditions incensed many lawmakers." The committee"s investigators found 19,776 rescissions from three large insurers over five years, which led to savings of $300 million. "Several lawmakers at the hearing suggested there were things the companies could do right now: They could vet applications when they receive them, rather than waiting until people get sick; they could consider whether something that was omitted was related to a current health condition before rescinding; and they could be more careful to positively identify fraud before rescinding a policy" (Silberner, 6/22). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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