The Back from Thanksgiving Edition

There hasn't been much health news the last couple of days. I suspect it will pick up as the day goes on. Here's what I could find this morning:

This worries me a lot -- taxing health insurance premiums. What happened to no insurance increases for the middle class? The idea isn't just to raise revenue, but also to make employees more frugal consumers of health care. They don't think copays and deductibles already do that? Won't this mean the end of employer-sponsored health care? Maybe that's not a bad thing. But for people like me -- who gets group insurance as a group of one -- don't have a choice since nothing else would cover my pre-existing condition. But it's super expensive, so I could get killed on taxes. Maybe this is just a bad dream and I should go back to bed.

New health care delivery models -- accountable care organizations -- will they really save money, or will larger health care conglomerates decrease competition and increase costs?

The military is looking to decrease health costs, perhaps by raising copays.

Probiotics have some advantage for kids.

Easter Seals has released a study that shows differences across every aspect of life for adults living with disabilities and their families. Among the study's findings is that seven in 10 adults with disabilities (69%) live with their parent(s) or guardian, only 17% live independently – compared to more than half of adult children without disabilities (51%). Furthermore, only 45% of parents strongly agree their adult child with a disability will always have a place to live; whereas, 75% of parents of adult children without a disability strongly agree.

That's it, folks. If I have time to check back later, I'll see if there's anything new. If not, see you tomorrow. And happy day back from Thanksgiving -- not. Jennifer