Through the advent of the Internet, when it comes to healthcare, people are becoming aware of potential advances, cures, preliminary research studies, and new drugs much sooner than ever before.
Here are a few interesting healthcare topics for 2019 and beyond:
#8. Unnecessary emergency visits to the hospital
It’s no secret that a great many uninsured people rely almost exclusively on emergency visits for their healthcare. According to a report entitled Avoidable ER Visits Fuel Health Care Costs, a report by UnitedHealth Group, it shows that two-thirds of the 27 million insured visits to hospital emergency rooms were not actual health emergencies and could be handled significantly more readily by primary care providers.
It seems that the insured go to the emergency room for health care because they are open 24-hours per day, while health care providers are primarily open only during business hours. The result is an inflation of costs. Where a typical visit to a primary care doctor would cost around $167, a visit to the emergency room is a whopping $2,000.
#7. Concerns by anesthesiologists about marijuana use
According to Rocket News.com, now that many states are legalizing marijuana, anesthesiologists report that marijuana users who need to have health operations are building up a tolerance to common drugs used for surgery, such as propofol. The result is that patients who smoke marijuana regularly may build up a tolerance toward surgery medications and the doctors who administer them may need to adjust the dosages.
#6. Vitamins still a concern
Despite advice by some government officials that vitamin supplementation is unnecessary, Readers Digest ran an article, Vitamins Doctors Take, about the supplements most doctors take for themselves. Some of these are zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin C.
As long as you don’t overdose, a vitamin, such as SmartyPants Vitamins, which includes essentials like vitamin D, zinc, chromium, and magnesium, seems like a smart bet. Just don’t take the attitude that just because you take a supplement excuses you to indulge in sugars, fats, and grease.
#5 Obesity continues to be a major concern
Despite evidence that shows obesity causes heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes, to name just a few, a recent report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found nearly 40 percent of adults and close to 19 percent of children were considered morbidly obese in the U.S. Despite a myriad of diet books on the market, the numbers continue to increase.
# 4. Politics and health care
Despite attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional, it continues to function, albeit with many problems. As the next election looms forward, several Democratic candidates have favored the Medicare for all solution. What will be the end result? Who knows, but healthcare is a multi-trillion dollar problem with many facets to be worked out.
#3. The quest for a cancer vaccine
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States (only heart disease is more deadly). Cancer kills around 600,000 individuals in the U.S. alone and affects thousands more.
Essentially, cancer is the uncontrolled growth and expansion of certain cells in the body, and researchers have long searched for a universal vaccine to protect or eliminate the risk of cancer. However, while there are a few vaccines, such as a vaccine that prevents prostate cancer from spreading, cancer is proving to be an elusive nut to crack as far as a universal vaccine is concerned. Part of the problem is that cancer is not just one disease, but hundreds of diseases combined.
#2 The cure for the common cold
Like cancer, the age-old question about why there isn’t a cure for the common cold can be answered, according to Scientific American, to the fact that there are 160 different strains of rhinovirus. However, some virologists believe that a combination of up to 83 different strains of rhinovirus may lead to the ultimate solution to a vaccine in the future.
#1 Technology
Work is being done to allow doctors to pre-screen patients through high-tech methods, allowing the doctor to treat more patients efficiently and at a cheaper cost.