Mental health and emotional well-being in focus on last day of National Public Health Week, annual deaths from prescription drug abuse have quadrupled in the last decade; plus the cost of preventive screenings vary – tips on what you can do to control your out of pocket expenses. These stories and more topping public health news today, Friday, April 6, 2012.
Wall Street Journal – Pain-Pill Crackdown Spreads
A federal crackdown on abuse of prescription pain pills has reached the nation’s biggest drugstore chain, Walgreen Co., WAG -1.38% with drug agents searching six Walgreen stores and a distribution center in Florida. The crackdown, which earlier ensnared two pharmacies of CVS Caremark Corp. CVS +0.70% and one facility of major drug distributor Cardinal Health Inc., CAH -1.44% comes as federal authorities focus on the abuse of pain pills as one of the nation’s most serious medical issues.
USA Today – Costs of many preventive medical exams vary as much as 700%
A new report shows costs vary as much as 700% for some preventive examinations, and as the federal health care law increases demand for those procedures, it can mean an increase in premiums if employees don’t pay attention to those costs.
Nevada Appeal – National Public Health Week 2012: When it comes to health, the mind matters
Today’s National Public Health Week focus is on mental and emotional well-being. This is an important part of health that often goes overlooked while we focus on physical illnesses instead. For example, when an individual gains or loses weight, has trouble sleeping at night or experiences a reoccurring upset stomach, we often look for a physical cause and ignore the possible psychological or social problems that could be causing it.
TIME – Drug-Resistant Malaria Is Spreading, and It Could Be a Public Health Disaster
Malaria remains one of the world’s great unnecessary killers. More than 650,000 people succumb to the disease each year — that’s more than one per minute — mostly in the poor nations of sub-Saharan Africa, but as deadly as malaria is, it doesn’t have to kill. Prevention and better treatment can stop the progression of the disease, and death tends to be a matter of extreme poverty.
