Trump Cherry Picks Stats When Citing 60-Percent Obamacare Premium Hikes
The Washington Post fact checks one of Donald Trump's go-to lines about the health law. In other election 2016 news, a look at the health policy experts both candidates have tapped for their transition teams and more out of the states.
The Washington Post's Fact Checker:
Trump’s Claim That Obama Is Trying To ‘Delay’ Obamacare Enrollment Until After The Election
This is one of Trump’s go-to lines about premium increases under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. He warns of premium increases of 40, 50, 60 percent — and alleges that the Obama administration is trying to delay open enrollment, scheduled for Nov. 1, until after the election because the drastic rate hikes will be “election-defying.” Are his claims accurate? (Lee, 9/26)
In other national health care news —
The Wall Street Journal:
The Revolution In EMS Care
There’s a revolution taking place in emergency medical services, and for many, it could be life changing. From the increasingly sophisticated equipment they carry and the new lifesaving techniques they use, to the changing roles they play in some communities—providing preventive care and monitoring patients at home—ambulance crews today are hardly recognizable from their origins as “horizontal taxicabs.” (Landro, 9/25)
The Wall Street Journal:
Medical Record Mix-Ups A Common Problem, Study Finds
A patient in cardiac arrest was mistakenly not resuscitated because clinicians confused him with a patient who had a do-not-resuscitate order on file. Another patient was given an okay to undergo surgery based on a different patient’s records and was found dead in his hospital room the next day. Such patient-identification mix-ups are common and can have deadly consequences, according to a report from the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit research group that studies patient safety. (Beck, 9/25)
The New York Times:
Why Do Obese Patients Get Worse Care? Many Doctors Don’t See Past The Fat
You must lose weight, a doctor told Sarah Bramblette, advising a 1,200-calorie-a-day diet. But Ms. Bramblette had a basic question: How much do I weigh? The doctor’s scale went up to 350 pounds, and she was heavier than that. If she did not know the number, how would she know if the diet was working? The doctor had no answer. (Kolata, 9/25)
The New York Times:
As Their Numbers Grow, Home Care Aides Are Stuck At $10.11
The analysts at P.H.I., a nonprofit research and consulting group, sift through federal data each year to see how the nation’s swelling corps of home care workers is faring. That’s how we know that the aides who care for disabled people and older adults in their homes — helping them bathe and dress, preparing their meals, doing laundry and housekeeping — earned a national median of $10.21 an hour in 2005, adjusted for inflation. (Span, 9/23)