Daily Report Blog

HealthLeaders reported on 5/7/12 that the U.S. health care sector created 19,000 jobs in April—nearly 18% of the 115,000 new jobs added in the larger economy that month—yet this growth has been decelerating for the past two months after strong job growth in January and February.

The 5/7/12 USA Today reported that nearly 50% of affluent Americans--those with at least $250,000 in household assets-- are apprehensive that rising health care costs will deplete their savings; pre-retirees estimated that their average annual health care costs will total $5,621--a drastic underestimate of the expected average of as much as $10,750 a year.

Kaiser Health News reported on 5/6/12 that major insurers such as UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Cigna, and large employers such as General Electric and Delta Air Lines, are pushing telemedicine as a way to make doctor "visits" cheaper and more easily available.