News Clippings – Why LibertyRx Program is needed so much!
Source: ProWEB Wire (Industry News)
51% of population medicated for chronic conditions
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Last year, 51 percent of American children and adults were regularly taking one or more prescription drugs for a chronic condition, typically for problems linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2008
Health benefits are a real pill for business
By Steve Jacob
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Mary Frazior, longtime president of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Chamber of Commerce, felt compelled to gather a handful of the chamber's leaders to share the bad news.
She budgeted a health insurance increase of 12 percent for 2008. The real increase, it turns out, is going to be 24 percent.
….the 170 million Americans who get health insurance through their employers have seen the cost of their premiums increase 30 percent while their incomes increased only 3 percent from 2001 to 2005, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
AETNA RELEASES 2007 ANNUAL REPORT, 'THE DIFFERENCE WE MAKE'
While nearly 84 percent of Americans have some form of insurance, roughly 47 million, or one in six Americans, lack health coverage. Of the uninsured, nearly 60 percent work for small businesses….
More Americans are taking prescription medications
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 14, 2008; 4:18 PM
TRENTON, N.J. -- For the first time, it appears that more than half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems, a study shows.
The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol _ problems often linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Ouch! There’s more news today about how the rising cost of health care is hurting us all.
Slightly more than 1 in 4 Americans (28 percent) report that the recent economic downturn has caused "serious problems" paying for medical care and insurance, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a
California policy group.
It’s the third most frequent type of problem people are encountering, behind problems paying for gas (44 percent) and getting a raise or a good paying job (29 percent).
Research shows what happens when people get caught in this kind of economic squeeze – they stop writing checks for insurance premiums or they stop taking medications …
The new survey confirms this is happening: 29 percent of people said they or a family member have postponed getting needed care; 24 percent went without a recommended medical test or treatment; 23 percent didn’t fill a prescription; and another 19 percent cut pills in half or skipped medication doses.
People at the bottom end of the income ladder weren’t the only ones reporting problems. Twenty-eight percent of families reporting serious problems paying for medical care were solidly middle class, earning $30,000 to $75,000 a year.
