Tag Archives: benefits

Australian physician-journalist offers pearls for health journalists

Norman Swan

One of the best ways to become a better health journalist is to find out what the best in the biz are doing — and then make it your own. Great health journalism is happening all over the world, and, with his diverse, far-reaching résumé, pediatrician and broadcast journalist Norman Swan demonstrates the breadth of what journalists can accomplish.

As the longtime producer and presenter of the Australia Broadcasting Corporation’s Health Report, Swan is a bit like the antipodean version of the U.S.’s Sanjay Gupta. Continue reading

Changes are on the way for military dental benefits

Photo: Marine Forces Reserve via Flickr

Changes are coming for 1.6 million military retirees and family members who obtain oral health care benefits through the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (TRDP).

The premium-based dental plan, managed by the Defense Health Agency (DHA), is slated to shut down on Dec. 31. Continue reading

Full access to the Wiley Online Library added as member benefit

The Association of Health Care Journalists has announced an enhanced partnership with global research and learning company John Wiley and Sons to provide professional journalists with access to the full collection of journals published on Wiley Online Library.

Wiley publishes on behalf of many of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to advancing health science. AHCJ members will be able to access 6 million articles from more than 1,500 journals, including Cochrane Library, Cancer, the Journal of the American Heart Association, and more.

See more …

Dental health advocates fear loss of coverage under GOP plan

Thanks to progress credited to the Affordable Care Act, only about 11 percent of Americans lack health insurance. Yet approximately a third – more than 100 million – remain dentally uninsured, according to the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP).

Dental coverage was never a major focus of the ACA. Still, some headway has been made in getting oral health benefits to more Americans since its passage. Continue reading

Study indicates better health savings account ‘literacy’ needed

Source: 19th Annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care. © Towers Watson 2014.

Source: 19th Annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care. © Towers Watson 2014.

For the purpose of this blog post, let’s leave aside the decade-plus ideological fight about whether health savings accounts (HSAs) are a good or bad idea.

Let’s just look at what happens to people who have them, at least according to this recent article by Michael Fletcher, a national economics correspondent for The Washington Post. His argument is that people could save money on health care – if they knew how to use their HSAs. Continue reading