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Health care sales drive 3M income up in Q3

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Updated 4 p.m.

Strong sales growth in its health care sector helped 3M boost third quarter net income 6 percent to $1.3 billion. Revenue reached $8.1 billion.

3M's health care segment had the greatest sales growth in the quarter, with developing markets providing a big boost.

"Many emerging economies are beginning to spend more on health care and a lot of wound care and disposable items that 3M manufactures are being consumed to a greater degree," said Matt Arnold, an analyst with the investment firm Edward Jones.

3M says it has made substantial investments to bolster its health care businesses in China, Germany, Poland, Thailand, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Last week, the company announced a $58 million expansion in the U.S. to meet growing demand for medical tapes, dressings, surgical drapes and other wound care products.

Overall, 3M's sales increased 6 percent in the U.S. and 4 percent in Asia. But sales fell in Europe, Latin America and other markets.

About two-thirds of 3M's sales are outside the U.S. The company's products are used across the housing, electronics, automotive, aviation and many other industries. 3M's products range from sandpaper and orthodontics to bandages and films that make TV screens brighter.

All that makes 3M's results a closely-watched economic indicator.

"3M is definitely viewed as a bellwether of the economy and if you look at the quarter, the United States did very well," said Arnold. "Latin American and Europe softened a bit, especially Europe."

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Health care sales drive 3M income up in Q3

U.S. Ranks Last Among Wealthy Nations in Access to Health Care

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By Alan Mozes HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. health care system ranks dead last compared to other industrialized nations when it comes to affordability and patient access, according to a new survey.

The 2013 survey of the American health care landscape was conducted by the Commonwealth Fund just prior to the full implementation of the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"I would say that we found two things that really seem to drive the higher barriers to health care in the U.S.," said David Squires, a senior researcher with the Commonwealth Fund in New York City.

"The first is that we have a huge uninsured population, which at least at the time of the survey was about 50 million people. And, the second is that we have millions more who have some kind of insurance, but the coverage isn't really good enough to protect them fully if they actually become ill," explained Squires.

"And these two issues don't really exist in any of the other countries we looked at. They all have universal health insurance," he noted. "So everyone has access and the insurance they have is generally much more protective. It covers more costs and either has no co-pays or relatively modest co-pays. And there's a ceiling on what a patient would have to pay in any one year, if anything," Squires said.

"That's a huge difference from the American experience. In addition, the U.S. is just a much more expensive health care system. We spend about $9,000 per person a year. That compares, for example, with just $3,000 a year in the U.K., and is overall about 50 to 200 percent more than is spent on our peers in other Western nations. So even if an American has insurance it's still in the context of an extremely expensive situation," Squires added.

The new survey is the subject of a perspective analysis, written by Karen Davis and Jeromie Ballreich of Johns Hopkins, and published in the Oct. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The survey included Canada, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Of these, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland ranked highest in terms of access to care irrespective of personal wealth, the researchers found.

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U.S. Ranks Last Among Wealthy Nations in Access to Health Care

Health care open enrollment season: Consumer Reports tips

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LOS ANGELES (KABC) --

Consumer Reports has just released its analysis of more than 1,000 health care plans, and offers some important questions to consider before you choose.

Consumer Reports experts say even though health insurance is tricky, don't just renew the plan you have.

"There are some basic things that everyone needs to look at no matter how you get your insurance. One is, What are the cost-sharing provisions of the plan? The deductibles? The co-pays?" said Nancy Metcalf, Consumer Reports.

And be sure to check the annual out-of-pocket limit. It's the most you'd have to pay in a year.

Also, check out which doctors and hospitals are in your plan. Choosing a smaller or narrow network can save money.

"However, if you have an ongoing relationship with providers who aren't in the plan, it might not be for you," said Metcalf.

And if you take prescription drugs regularly, especially costly ones, study the plan's formulary (a list of preferred drugs) to make sure yours are covered.

Consumer Reports has analyzed more than a thousand private, Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans ranked by the NCQA, a nonprofit quality measurement and accreditation organization.

"Our rankings look at overall quality, customer service, how well the plans deal with common conditions like asthma or diabetes," said Metcalf.

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Health care open enrollment season: Consumer Reports tips

McHenry County Board rejection of health care grant sparks concern, anger

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WOODSTOCK Local health officials warn a decision by the McHenry County Board to reject a state grant to pay for counselors to help insure people under the Affordable Care Act will hurt county residents in need.

While the County Board voted last year to accept the Illinois Department of Public Health grant, it voted Tuesday against doing so again, and turned down $584,791 to pay for a counselor and several social service agencies to help enroll people through the state health care exchange. The 10-10 vote on which the proposal died was far below the 16 votes needed to pass because part of the grant would fall under the present county fiscal year ending Nov. 30.

Tuesdays vote means the Department of Health will have to return the funding, which will be allocated elsewhere in Illinois, county Public Health Administrator Michael Hill said. While Hill expressed disappointment in the boards decision, others expressed shock and anger.

The decision stunned Suzanne Hoban, executive director of Family Health Partnership Clinic, which since 1996 has worked to provide health care access to those who could not otherwise afford it. The agency, now located in Crystal Lake, serves about 3,000 people a year and is one of the agencies for which counselor funding would be disbursed under the rejected grant.

For us and for the people we serve, this is a huge blow. Our clinic takes care of people with no access to health care at all. Our goal is to see how many people we can get out of our clinic and into private practice [through acquiring insurance], because our resources are stretched to the limit, Hoban said.

Most of the grant funding, which requires no local match, would go to the local agencies to allow them to hire staff to aid in enrollment, and would pay for about five full-time-equivalent employees at the health department until the grant period expires April 15.

The County Board vote came after a brief discussion during which Diane Evertsen, R-Harvard, and Ersel Schuster, R-Woodstock, spoke against taking the grant money, and Nick Chirikos, D-Algonquin, spoke in favor.

This funding for the Affordable Care the Non-Affordable Care Act is another half a million dollars plus to try and make something work that is an admitted failure, Evertsen said.

Finance and Audit Committee Chairwoman Mary McCann, R-Woodstock, called Tuesdays vote a protest against Obamacare that will only hurt the uninsured. She said she has referenced numerous seniors, who are not Internet-savvy on top of the complicated enrollment process, to seek the help the grant funded.

This is crazy. Were penalizing the public were supposed to be serving, McCann said.

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McHenry County Board rejection of health care grant sparks concern, anger

Africa needs health care that works

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Mandy Moore is a singer-songwriter, actress, and an ambassador for Population Services International. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

(CNN) -- I've just returned from a visit to Tanzania with the global health and development organization Population Services International to better understand the challenges facing health workers in the developing world. The outbreak of Ebola only underscores the dire need for trained health workers -- a global shortage of nearly 7.2 million health workers, according to the World Health Organization.

About half of the spending on health care in Africa goes to private providers and care can be unregulated and quality inconsistent. During my week on the ground, however, I met PSI community health workers, nurses, doctors and business owners who deliver controlled and quality health care across Tanzania.

Mandy Moore

PSI has ensured quality care by applying proven commercial franchising strategies -- think McDonalds or Subway -- to health care. PSI operates a franchise network that spans 31 countries and serves 10 million people every year. In Tanzania, the franchise is called Familia.

Lucy, a Familia community health worker, goes out into the community every day and educates women about family planning and other health issues. Lucy then refers these women back to the neighborhood Familia clinic located right in the village she serves.

I joined Lucy for a session she organized at a modest apartment building with a few rooms separated by concrete walls and colorful fabric curtains. When I climbed the stairs to the front porch, about a dozen women with babies who were seated on straw mats greeted me. Lucy began to talk with them about their contraception options, and they had lots of questions for her. The most vocal was a gregarious woman named Sophia.

Sophia had used condoms and pills to space her births, but when Familia began offering longer-term methods like implants, she switched. The implant prevents pregnancy for up to three years, and she shared with us how it was a great weight off her shoulders. She told the group that she wanted to be able to plan her family size, so she and her husband could save for the future. Lucy reiterated that for women like Sophia, access to family planning is a key to health and economic stability.

According to a report by the United Nations Population Fund and Guttmacher Institute, returns on investment in contraception can be recouped four times or more by reducing the need for public spending on social services. This is something Lucy knows well -- before she ended the session, she gave out vouchers to our new friends for a consultation at their local Familia clinic.

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Africa needs health care that works

TAX Meat? Politics Lobby Kill Health Care Subsidize Animal Ag VOTE Vegan Vegetarian FastFood Corrupt – Video

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TAX Meat? Politics Lobby Kill Health Care Subsidize Animal Ag VOTE Vegan Vegetarian FastFood Corrupt - Video

Mandy Moore: Africa health care cure

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Mandy Moore is a singer-songwriter, actress, and an ambassador for Population Services International. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

(CNN) -- I've just returned from a visit to Tanzania with the global health and development organization Population Services International to better understand the challenges facing health workers in the developing world. The outbreak of Ebola only underscores the dire need for trained health workers -- a global shortage of nearly 7.2 million health workers, according to the World Health Organization.

About half of the spending on health care in Africa goes to private providers and care can be unregulated and quality inconsistent. During my week on the ground, however, I met PSI community health workers, nurses, doctors and business owners who deliver controlled and quality health care across Tanzania.

Mandy Moore

PSI has ensured quality care by applying proven commercial franchising strategies -- think McDonalds or Subway -- to health care. PSI operates a franchise network that spans 31 countries and serves 10 million people every year. In Tanzania, the franchise is called Familia.

Lucy, a Familia community health worker, goes out into the community every day and educates women about family planning and other health issues. Lucy then refers these women back to the neighborhood Familia clinic located right in the village she serves.

I joined Lucy for a session she organized at a modest apartment building with a few rooms separated by concrete walls and colorful fabric curtains. When I climbed the stairs to the front porch, about a dozen women with babies who were seated on straw mats greeted me. Lucy began to talk with them about their contraception options, and they had lots of questions for her. The most vocal was a gregarious woman named Sophia.

Sophia had used condoms and pills to space her births, but when Familia began offering longer-term methods like implants, she switched. The implant prevents pregnancy for up to three years, and she shared with us how it was a great weight off her shoulders. She told the group that she wanted to be able to plan her family size, so she and her husband could save for the future. Lucy reiterated that for women like Sophia, access to family planning is a key to health and economic stability.

According to a report by the United Nations Population Fund and Guttmacher Institute, returns on investment in contraception can be recouped four times or more by reducing the need for public spending on social services. This is something Lucy knows well -- before she ended the session, she gave out vouchers to our new friends for a consultation at their local Familia clinic.

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Mandy Moore: Africa health care cure

More Than 5,000 Health Care Workers Attend Ebola Training

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TIME Health ebola More Than 5,000 Health Care Workers Attend Ebola Training CDC and Mount Sinai health workers demonstrate how to put on and off Ebola personal protective equipment at an Ebola education session in New York City Alexandra Sifferlin "We are having a family meeting"

More than 5,000 health care and hospital infection control workers gathered at the Javits Center in New York City for an Ebola education session amid growing concern among hospital workers over Ebola preparedness.

We are having a family meeting, Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) told TIME. The turnout is spectacular. We may not answer every question [today], but we are committed to finding the answers.

The event, which was streamed live nationwide, featured Centers for Disease Control (CDC) experts offering live trainings on how to safely care for patients with Ebola. It was hosted by the Healthcare Education Project from GNYHA/1199SEIU and Partnership for Quality Care.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo helped kick off the event, touting New Yorkers resilience and ability to always rise to the occasion from 9/11 to Hurricane Sandy. We have a new challenge we must meet today, said Cuomo. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also made an appearance, thanking health care workers.

Regardless of immigration status, we will help them all, said de Blasio, referring to the possibility of patients with Ebola coming into a New York City emergency room.

The session included a hands-on demonstration of personal protective equipment (PPE) led by Dr. Bryan Christensen of the CDCs domestic infection control team for the Ebola response. On Oct. 20, the CDC revised its guidelines for Ebola-related care, recommending full-coverage PPE and supervision while taking PPE on and off.

Christensen supervised registered nurse Barbara Smith of Mount Sinai Health System as she demonstrated how to put on and take off all the pieces of PPE: sanitizing her hands, putting on her first set of gloves, sitting in a chair to put on her foot covers, donning her suitand finally doing a little jig, to audience laughter, once she was completely suited. Afterward, she took off each piece, sanitized her gloves numerous times and checked for any holes. The entire process took 15 to 20 minutes, which the CDC said cannot be rushed.

CDC officials also reviewed Ebola care protocols in detail, from what to wear and how to discard linens (they cant be washed) to the way hands should be washed and how to use an alcohol rub to clean gloves before removing them, something that is not usually part of standard procedure. For respiratory protection, the CDC recommends either a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) or a disposable respirator like N95. Emory University Hospital uses the former; the Nebraska Medical Center uses the latter. When we use equipment we are not used to, it makes it difficult, said CDCs Dr. Arjun Srinivasan. The way we address this is practice, practice, practice.

Massive education sessions like this have been held before over health threats like anthrax, H1N1 and smallpox. We had to have this in a convention center to accommodate folks, George Gresham, president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East told TIME. Back in the 80s when the AIDS epidemic first started, I was a health care worker myself, and it was the unknown that was the mystery, and the fear, and I think thats the same here.

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More Than 5,000 Health Care Workers Attend Ebola Training

It's Time for Open Enrollment for Health Care Exchanges

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You have a three-month window to shop around for a better deal on individual health insurance.

The federal and state health care exchanges are gearing up for a second year, but there is little reason to grab for the aspirin bottle. Here's good news: You're likely to find more insurance policy options this year -- and far fewer technical glitches.

Open enrollment for individual health insurance for 2015 runs from November 15, 2014, to February 15, 2015. This period applies to those who shop on the government exchanges or buy a policy from an agent or directly from an insurer. Go to http://www.healthcare.gov for the link to your state's exchange. (The federal government runs the marketplaces for many states.)

If you enrolled during last year's disastrous rollout, your policy will be renewed automatically unless you make a change. Even if you already have insurance, you should review other options. Your current policy may no longer be the best match.

This is your opportunity to make a change if you were unpleasantly surprised by some of the features in your policy. Perhaps you discovered that your doctors or drugs weren't covered, or your health condition has changed. "Some plans that were competitive in 2014 are not as competitive in 2015, and a lot of consumers would be better off comparing plans again," says Elizabeth Carpenter, director of the health care reform practice at consulting firm Avalere Health.

Whether you're enrolling for the second time or the first, you'll probably find more choices for 2015. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 77 more insurers will be selling policies on the exchanges for 2015, a 25% increase from last year. United Healthcare, for example, sold policies on four exchanges last year, but hopes to sell on 24 exchanges in 2015. Cigna is entering three additional states.

Average premiums are generally rising, but the size of the increase can vary significantly by state, based on competition and insurers' claims costs. A study of nine state exchanges by Avalere found average premiums for silver plans will increase by as much as 16% in Indiana but by just 2.5% in Rhode Island. Average silver plan premiums will fall by 1.4% in Oregon. "Most people last year picked the policy with the lowest or second-to-lowest premiums, but that plan may no longer be the lowest-cost plan," says Cynthia Cox, a senior policy analyst for Kaiser Family Foundation.

But premiums are only part of your overall costs. Depending on the plan you choose, the plans with the lowest premiums could end up charging large co-payments for drugs and medical care.

Individual plans sold on and off the exchanges are categorized as bronze, silver, gold or platinum, based on the percentage of health care costs that they cover. A bronze plan should cover an average 60% of costs, while a platinum plan covers about 90%. Bronze plans charge the lowest premiums, but you'll pay more out of pocket if you need a lot of care. With platinum plans, your premiums will be higher, but your deductibles and co-payments will be lower.

Look at your medical expenses for last year and calculate what you would have paid out of pocket for your drugs, medical care and premiums. If you have more medical expenses, a platinum or gold policy with the higher premium -- but low co-payments -- may cost you less in the end. If you have few medical expenses, it may make sense to buy a bronze or silver plan, which has a lower premium but less robust coverage. Some insurers, such as United Healthcare and Aetna, offer online tools that itemize your expenses for the year.

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It's Time for Open Enrollment for Health Care Exchanges

Competition keeps health-care costs low, U.S. researchers find

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Medical practices in less competitive health-care markets charge more for services, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The study, based on U.S. health-care data from 2010, provides important new information about the effects of competition on prices for office visits paid by preferred provider organizations, known more commonly as PPOs. PPOs are the most common type of health insurance plan held by privately insured people in the United States.

The study will be published Oct. 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The research comes out of trying to understand some dramatic changes that have occurred in the health-care system over a couple of decades," said the study's lead author, Laurence Baker, PhD, professor of health research and policy at Stanford.

One striking change is the shift from practices with one or two doctors toward larger, more complex organizations with many physicians. One important impact of this can be reductions in the amount of competition among physician practices. The study sought to understand how variation in the amount of competition within a region affects the amounts doctors are paid, an important consideration when developing health policy.

"This has always been an important issue, and now it's even more important as policy moves us more and more toward larger practices," said study co-author Kate Bundorf, PhD, associate professor of health and research policy.

The pluses and minuses

There is a push through the private sector and through Medicare to encourage the formation of larger practices, which could improve the efficiency of the health-care system, said Bundorf. The potential benefits of such organizations are clear: Doctors working in a group can easily exchange information about a patient's medical history and have the staff to support a large volume of patients, for example. However, there is little evidence about how larger groups could affect health-care spending.

"It's an important question for the U.S. health-care system right now," said Baker. "If we move toward larger practices, how can we get the benefits but avoid the challenges higher prices would create?"

The study assessed the relationship between competition among medical providers and prices paid by PPOs for the most commonly billed services within 10 prominent physician specialties. The researchers developed innovative measurements to make the comparisons.

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Competition keeps health-care costs low, U.S. researchers find

What to Know About Health Care Open Enrollment

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The stakes are higher for picking your health care insurance this year, whether choosing employer-sponsored plans or health exchange coverage.

An individual must have some kind of coverage or pay the individual mandate penalty. For 2015, this will be $325 per adult in a family and half that much for each child under 18, up to $975 per household.

"Everyone should get some kind of coverage," said Timothy Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Here are things you should know about open enrollment:

Know your employer's open enrollment period.

Open enrollment for all health care exchanges is shorter for 2015: Nov. 15 to Feb. 15. Individuals may qualify for special enrollment periods beyond this time frame if, for example, they get married, have a baby or move.

Some employees can decline employer-sponsored insurance and instead pursue tax credits on public exchanges. Employer-sponsored insurance must be affordable and offer adequate coverage, said Andrea Riggs, director of communications for GetInsured. If the employee's contribution toward a plan is less than 9.5 percent of the employee's household income, then it is deemed affordable.

An employee with low enough wages may also be eligible for Medicaid, Jost said.

Don't just focus on the premiums, Riggs said. A few employers, for example, do not cover hospitalization, Jost said. What's the out-of-pocket limit? Does your employer offer a Health Savings Account (HSA), which can roll over and is yours to keep?

Healthy people who need less care should be more comfortable paying lower premiums (the amount paid for your health plan by you and/or your employer) with less coverage, Riggs said. This means higher co-pays (fixed amount paid for a service) and higher deductibles (the amount paid out of pocket before an insurer will pay up). People who need more care should opt for richer benefits (lower co-pays, lower deductibles) with higher premiums.

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What to Know About Health Care Open Enrollment

Nurses Show Support And Love For Nurse Leaving Dallas Hospital Infected With Ebola Virus – Video

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Nurses Show Support And Love For Nurse Leaving Dallas Hospital Infected With Ebola Virus
Nurses Show Support And Love For Nurse Leaving Dallas Hospital Infected With Ebola Virus Ebola patient Nina Pham transferring to Maryland CDC Director Most Concerned About African Economies.

By: Charles Walton

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Nurses Show Support And Love For Nurse Leaving Dallas Hospital Infected With Ebola Virus - Video

Bill Clinton 1993 First Term Complete Presidential Address (Health Care Reform) – Video

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Bill Clinton 1993 First Term Complete Presidential Address (Health Care Reform)
ABC Satellite Live broadcast from Capitol Hill hosted by Peter Jennings reporting from Congress by Cokie Roberts. President Bill Clinton on Health Care Reform, "This year, not next year, not...

By: Yoshiyuki Mukudai

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Bill Clinton 1993 First Term Complete Presidential Address (Health Care Reform) - Video


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