If medical consequences won’t get people to be vaccinated for Covid-19, maybe financial consequences will. A new analysis in the journal JAMA Network Open finds that most insurance companies are no longer waiving co-pays and deductibles for Covid hospitalization. That’s leaving the average insured patient responsible for about $3,800 of their more than $40,000 bill. Insurers say that’s perfectly appropriate since patients can avoid severe Covid illness by getting a vaccine.
Last new year’s eve, a lot of us thought that things could only get better in 2021. But it’s not turning out that way. Depression rates are even higher now than they were in 2020, according to a study in the journal The Lancet Regional Health. Researchers say depression among American adults was about eight percent before the pandemic, and shot up to about 28 percent last year. But with Covid dragging on, depression rates have continued to climb… to about one out of every three people this year.
Many preschoolers with ADHD don’t get the best treatment. Guidelines say that parents of four-and-five year olds diagnosed with ADHD should receive a specific therapy called “Parent Training in Behavior Management.” Studies show it’s the best possible starting point for ADHD. But a study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics shows that pediatricians refer families to this treatment only 11 percent of the time. Seventeen percent of four-and-five year olds received medication instead.
And finally… teenage girls are among the groups that were especially stressed during the pandemic shutdown… but a study in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology shows that in some ways, the shutdown was helpful to them. Without in-person school and extracurriculars, teenagers’ jammed schedules got a break. Three-quarters of the girls engaged in creative hobbies that they didn’t have time for before… and most got nine hours of sleep a night.
Medical Notes 21-47: Week of November 21, 2021
If medical consequences won’t get people to be vaccinated for covid-19, maybe financial consequences will. A new analysis in the journal JAMA Network Open finds that most insurance companies are no longer waiving co-pays and deductibles for covid hospitalization. That’s leaving the average insured patient responsible for about $3,800 of their more than $40,000 bill. Insurers say that’s perfectly appropriate since patients can avoid severe covid illness by getting a vaccine.
Last new year’s eve, a lot of us thought that things could only get better in 2021. But it’s not turning out that way. Depression rates are even higher now than they were in 2020, according to a study in the journal The Lancet Regional Health. Researchers say depression among American adults was about eight percent before the pandemic, and shot up to about 28 percent last year. But with covid dragging on, depression rates have continued to climb… to about one out of every three people this year.
Many preschoolers with ADHD don’t get the best treatment. Guidelines say that parents of four-and-five year olds diagnosed with ADHD should receive a specific therapy called “Parent Training in Behavior Management.” Studies show it’s the best possible starting point for ADHD. But a study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics shows that pediatricians refer families to this treatment only 11 percent of the time. Seventeen percent of four-and-five year olds received medication instead.
And finally… teenage girls are among the groups that were especially stressed during the pandemic shutdown… but a study in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology shows that in some ways, the shutdown was helpful to them. Without in-person school and extracurriculars, teenagers’ jammed schedules got a break. Three-quarters of the girls engaged in creative hobbies that they didn’t have time for before… and most got nine hours of sleep a night.
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