Category: Prescription Drugs

Awareness, BeMedWise, Medicine Safety, Prescription Drugs
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Meeting the Medicine Information Needs of Americans with Vision Loss  

The Facts More than 3.4 million (3%) Americans aged 40 years and older are either legally blind (having visual acuity [VA] of 20/200 or worse or a visual field of less than 20 degrees) or are visually impaired (having VA of 20/40 or less). The Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics estimates that 17% of the age 65 and older population report “vision trouble.” Twenty-one million Americans report functional vision problems or eye conditions that may compromise vision. Older people are more likely to experience vision loss because of age-related eye diseases. Prevalence of Visual Disability The following estimates […]

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Medicine Safety, Prescription Drugs
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Doctors Prescribe Too Many Medications

This blog post originally appeared on Zaggocare.org Medications save lives and make life more bearable for millions of people. No doubt about it. But medications can also cause harm. Logically, the more medications a patient takes, the higher the risk of side effects and dangerous interactions between medications. Did you know many patients take inappropriate or unnecessary medications? Unfortunately, over-prescribing is a widespread, dangerous problem in the US, especially for older patients (categorized as those 65+ years old). Why do doctors prescribe too many medications? What harm does it cause? And what can patients do? An extensive report by the […]

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Affordable Care Act, Awareness, Health, Healthcare Reform, Mental Health, Safety, Specialty Drugs
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LGBT Health Awareness Week 2019

The last week of March has been LGBT Health Awareness Week since 2003. We have explored some of the barriers to healthcare for the transgender community in previous blog posts, but it remains important to bring awareness to the unique healthcare needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and the health disparities that continue to affect the lives of so many Americans.   Experts report that LGBT people often avoid seeking out medical care or refrain from “coming out” to their healthcare provider. This compromises an entire community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who are at increased […]

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Health, Healthcare Reform, Prescription Drugs
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Medical Tourism: Travel Abroad to Save on Healthcare

The following blog post is an American’s first-hand experience of traveling to Mexico to save money on healthcare procedures. Names and exact locations have been changed/omitted, though the details are all true and have been verified by us at NeedyMeds.   It is no secret that healthcare in the United States can be prohibitively expensive. Because of this, many Americans opt to get their healthcare elsewhere. According to a 2015 report by the US International Trade Commission (USITC), between 150,000 and 320,000 Americans travel abroad every year to receive medical care. For uninsured Americans, the costs are often less than […]

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Health, Medicine Safety, Safety, Social Media and Healthcare
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Online Health Information: Not Always Doctor-Approved

“Can Parasitic Worms Cure Seasonal Allergies?” “New Study Shows Too Much of This Breakfast Staple Will Literally Kill You” “Here’s Why Sitting is Worse for Your Health than Smoking” You  — or someone you know — is bound to see headlines like these every day. After all, looking up health information remains one of the most popular internet activities. But as the saying goes, you can’t believe everything you read. Kelly McBride, vice president of the Poynter Institute, last year told The Atlantic that “of all the categories of fake news, health news is the worst. There’s more bad health […]

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About Us

Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.