She’s a divorced 57 year-old female who was forced to step down from her job because of the debilitating side effects from the chemotherapy used to treat her breast cancer. Initially, from the time she was diagnosed, she was able to continue to work as a high powered executive. All of that came to a halt when she stopped working and subsequently had to sell her house in order to meet her co-pay and former employer health insurance costs. Now cancer free — but still needing expensive chemo — she survives on disability income and somehow manages to meet the constant out-of-pocket expenses she now has for medical services outside of her current physician network. Comparing herself to the Bionic Woman, the woman muses, “Sometimes you sit there and think: Am I really worth this?” | LINK | PDF of study here

• NY state recoups over half a billion dollars in amounts lost to Medicaid fraud and waste.
• MN has its first confirmed influenza case of 2008 – 2009 season, and it’s a susceptible strain to this season’s vaccine.
• Pharma company’s use of medical ghostwriting questioned.
• U.S. blacks trounce whites in color cancer death rates.
• Baltimore Sun OpEd:  states must employ total adoption of the electronic health record in overhauling healthcare delivery.