Nearly half of American adults have difficulty understanding and using health care information, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. The fact that these 90 million adults cannot effectively comprehend the medical information they receive comes at a time when individuals increasingly are expected to be smarter, better health care consumers.
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The segment of the American population age 85 and older is rapidly growing. Though advances in health care and a higher standard of living have enabled individuals to live longer, those who do live well into their senior years have a wide range of care needs. And, by and large, those faced with providing care are the employed spouses, children, grandchildren, and other relatives of the elderly.

Though estimates vary greatly, it’s clear that significant percentages of today’s employees are involved in caring for an elderly loved one. According to the Families and Work Institute’s 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, 35% of workers said they had provided care for a relative age 65 or older in the past year. The Family Caregiver Alliance estimates approximately one-quarter of households are involved in caring for a loved one, and that a third to a half of caregivers are employed.
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Estimates place the number of Americans with diabetes as high as 18 million or more. The vast majority of those with diabetes suffer from Type 2, or adult-onset diabetes. With the aging of the workforce and rising obesity rates, the incidence of diabetes is bound to grow, along with it the impact of the disease in the workplace.

According to a report from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), in 2002, direct medical costs and indirect expenditures attributable to diabetes ran at about $132 billion. Direct medical expenditures amounted to almost $92 billion, while indirect costs—including lost workdays, restricted activity days, mortality, and permanent disability—amounted to almost $40 billion.
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Insurers Reinstating Managed Care Restrictions in Effort to Control Costs

Continued increases in health care costs have prompted insurers to restore some unpopular money-saving measures that were scaled back after a backlash against managed care during the late 1990s. Requirements such as referrals for specialists and pre-authorizations for certain medical services are quietly reappearing in many health plans, according to a study published recently in the policy journal Health Affairs.
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