Month: October 2013

Patients are being pushed to shop more for health care by insurance plans that require them to pay higher out-of-pocket costs. But finding the right deal is often no easy task. Here are five things to consider if you decide to shop around:

Paul Freeman drove 600 miles last year to save himself — and his employer — thousands of dollars on his surgery.

By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Older adults who feel younger than they really are might want to steer clear of memory tests, or risk feeling older, a new study suggests. It’s been known that doing poorly on memory tests influences what age an older adult may “feel,” an effect called subjective aging. But a team of researchers have shown through a series of four experiments that the mere thought of a memory test can make men and women age 60 and older feel, well, older. …

FREETOWN (Reuters) – Sierra Leone’s Chief Medical Officer and four other people have been acquitted of all charges relating to the disappearance of half a million dollars provided by the GAVI Alliance, a senior government official said. Kisito Daoh was indicted along with 16 others after an internal audit revealed $523,303 unaccounted for from funds provided by Gavi, a vaccination provider launched in 2000 with a $750 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. …

By Jessica Wohl (Reuters) – Procter & Gamble Co is chugging along with its turnaround, posting a quarterly profit that met Wall Street's expectations and holding to its annual forecasts as the world's largest household products maker gets a lift from cost cuts and a lower tax rate. Shares of P&G fell nearly 1 percent to $79.93 in morning trading on Friday. The maker of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent is trying to reinvigorate itself under Chief Executive Officer A.G. Lafley, who returned in late May to replace Bob McDonald. …

SOFIA (Reuters) – A Bulgarian Roma couple are the biological parents of a 4-year-old blonde girl found in a Roma camp in Greece last week, DNA tests showed on Friday, solving a mystery that had captured global attention. Bulgarian prosecutors are investigating whether the mother, Sasha Ruseva, 35, agreed to sell her child in Greece. Ruseva denies this, saying she left a 7-month old baby in Greece – where she worked as an olive-picker – in 2009 because she could not look after the child and needed to return to Bulgaria. …

Brett Favre has become the latest former National Football League player to publicly reveal he is suffering memory problems after spending 20 years on the playing field.        

By Aradhana Aravindan and Sumeet Chatterjee MUMBAI (Reuters) – Wockhardt Ltd faces a year or more to get U.S. and British regulators to end curbs on its shipments of medicines to the two countries, the Indian drugmaker said on Friday after posting its smallest profit in six quarters. Indian firms, which make nearly 40 percent of generic and over-the-counter drugs for the U.S. market, face more regulatory woes, including a record fine for Ranbaxy Laboratories, amid increased scrutiny by overseas regulators. …

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Novo Nordisk is recalling 3 million insulin products used for diabetes treatment in 13 European countries due to a production problem that can affect the strength of the drug.

By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) – AbbVie Inc on Friday reported stronger-than-expected results for the third quarter, when booming sales of its Humira arthritis treatment and Synthroid thyroid replacement drug more than offset lower demand for other medicines. Shares of the drugmaker, which was split off at the beginning of the year from Abbott Laboratories Inc, rose more than 3 percent. Humira, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and other conditions, is the world’s top-selling prescription drug. Its sales have risen steadily since it was introduced in 2002. …