Skin cancer is maybe the most disconcerting of all forms of cancer given that its cause is something that we have generally assumed is good for us - sunlight. More specifically, it is overexposure to the ultraviolet (UV) light in sunlight that can damage the skin and too much of it can be dangerous whether it comes in ‘natural’ form or via routes such as tanning machines.

Skin…

In the United States, insurance providers are eagerly preparing for the opening of health insurance marketplaces in less than a month. On the first of October, state exchanges will begin to sell insurance to individuals as well as employers, and although many of the recent insurance publicity campaigns target…

In the more than three years since the passage of Obamacare in March, 2010, U.S. Republicans have found a number of ways to express their displeasure with the health care bill. Republican senators have nearly 40 times tried to repeal or delay the Affordable Care Act, and in state-level government, many Republican governors have refused to take federal money and expand their Medicaid programs.…

Considering we all (hopefully) experience sleep each and every day, the actual act of sleeping still remains to be a rather mysterious phenomenon and we are still learning new things about this necessary bodily function. Recently, with regard to the human species, some new research has thrown up some very specific…

Memory failure is unfortunately one of the many symptoms of growing older and is a fairly typical occurrence. However, people often worry once their memory starts to fail as it has traditionally been believed in the medical world that frequent memory failure might be the first step in the development of a major degenerative disease such as Alzheimer's.

Recently, more…

Health care workers are essential to the treatment of disease, but strange as it may sound, health care workers are also responsible for causing it. Around the world, many cases of infection occur at health care facilities. This issue, known as health care-associated infection (HCAI), is one that the World Health Organization has been working for many years to solve, in order to reduce…

On September 1, Texas became the sixth state in the U.S. pass legislation prohibiting minors from using indoor tanning salons. Joining Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina, Texas will now require that anyone under the age of 18 be prohibited from visiting a tanning facility; even if that minor has a note of parental consent. This tanning law may come as a surprise to Americans who know…

A damning report about the health supplements available in the UK states that a number of manufacturers such as Boots, Seven Seas and Vitabiotics are making false claims about a variety of vitamin, calcium and probiotic supplements. The report criticises some manufacturers for making unauthorised statements about the medical benefits of supplements and accuses others of manipulating the…

We are pleased to present the second Annual Globalsurance International Private Medical Insurance Review for the year 2013. This report is a collection of data from the 1^st of August 2012 to the 31^st of July 2013 for individual policyholders and does not include changes in the SME or multinational corporate health insurance market. The…

When serious floods roll in, great damage can occur to health and health care systems. This August, for example, monsoon season in Pakistan has resulted in flooded villages, lost livestock and forced evacuations – and along with the damage to physical structures, people in many regions of Pakistan are still contending with a lack of access to health care services, and facing the risks…