Health in the United States—One Publication to Rule Them All

October 27, 2015

Health, United States, 2014, With Special Feature on Adults Ages 55 to 64; Health Statistics 2014 in BriefIn timely fashion for Health Literacy Month, the U.S. government has ONE HEALTH PUBLICATION TO RULE THEM ALL. Oh, sorry. Let me just turn off caps lock. Good…now where was I?

Health. Yes! Health, United States, 2014 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics is the source code you need if you want to know the health status of a nation. This annual overview of trends in national health and well-being contains pages of eye-widening statistics on all manner of health conditions and behaviors. Sure, it’s an omnibus of charts and trend tables. But it’s also an education in the health determinants of Americans. No contrivance or filter here. Just plain ‘ol actionable data. A heap of it. So, I will pull out a few choice pieces.

Take the special feature that explores baby boomer health. This graying 55-64 age group is fast approaching the Medicare years and the assemblage of chronic diseases that come with it. The book states that the two leading causes of death for this group are cancer and heart disease. No surprise there. But what is rather interesting to note is that this pre-retirement age group is the most diverse of its kind ever. Of course, the CDC’s health statisticians are wise to consider those socioeconomic and demographic differences and how they relate to key health measures. That’s good data work, folks.

There’s one data set I’m sure we’re all interested in: life expectancy at birth. It’s a measure, according to

Life expectancy at birth

Click image to enlarge.

the publication, that is “often used to gauge the overall health of a population.” Americans are living longer—in 2013, the average age reached 78 for men and 81 for women.

There’s such a bounty of telling stats that a summary here can’t do justice. That’s why the CDC included a trusty In Brief companion to the encyclopedic volume. And if any data nerds out there want to comb through spreadsheets, each section includes links to reference materials.

There’s something refreshingly empowering about reading health information in raw form, to stare down the portrait of American health straight on. So go ahead. Take this set of health facts and figures—the one health publication to rule them all—and use it for good.

How do I obtain this publication?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Chelsea Milko, Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Office of Public Affairs. 

Leave a Comment » | Department of Health & Human Services, Health care | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Happy Birthday, Medicare!

July 24, 2014

July 30th marks the 49th anniversary of the establishment of the Social Security Act Amendments. In 1965, on this date, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law what is better known as the Medicare law. This established both Medicare, the health insurance program for Americans over 65, and Medicaid, the health insurance program for low income Americans. You can read this Public Law in the United States Statutes at Large on GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys).

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill. President Harry S. Truman is seated next to him. Others looking on include Lady Bird Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and Bess Truman. July 30, 1965. Photo courtesy of Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, U.S. National Archives

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill. President Harry S. Truman is seated next to him. Others looking on include Lady Bird Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and Bess Truman. July 30, 1965. Photo courtesy of Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, U.S. National Archives

Former President Harry S. Truman participated in the signing ceremony with President Johnson at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri. President Truman’s participation served to recognize his effort during his administration to establish a national health insurance program. President Truman and former first lady, Bess Truman, received Medicare registration cards numbers one and two.

on the occasion of the signing of the Social Security Amendments of 1965 in Independence, Missouri. Photo courtesy of Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, U.S. National Archives

This is the Medicare card believed to have been given to Harry Truman by President Lyndon on the occasion of the signing of the Social Security Amendments of 1965 in Independence, Missouri. Photo courtesy of Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, U.S. National Archives

The 1950 Census showed that the aged population in the U.S. had grown from 3 million in 1900 to 12 million in 1950. The jump was even greater between 1950 and 1963, growing from 12 million to 17.5 million, a large number of whom had no health insurance. It’s no surprise that in the program’s first three years, nearly 20 million beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare.

Fast forward to today, and Medicare provides health insurance to about 50 million Americans. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers the program.

Finding Medicare information and services has never been easier than with www.medicare.gov.

Using the site, users can access a wide array of services. Some examples include:

  • Signing up for Medicare;
  • Modifying Medicare plans;
  • Finding health and drug plans;
  • Learning about different levels of coverage and how to sign up for each, various costs, and supplements and other insurance;
  • Determining if specific tests or services are covered;
  • Filing a complaint, claim, or appeal;
  • Checking the status of any application, claim, or pending action;
  • Finding doctors, providers, hospitals, and suppliers;
  • Accessing forms, resources, and personal assistance;
  • Changing one’s address; and
  • Reporting lost or stolen Medicare cards.

In addition to that, the site offers access to podcasts, videos, and blogs that are not only interesting, but very informative. You can also connect with Medicare via Twitter and YouTube.

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) also provides access to a wide variety of Medicare resources. The U.S. Government Bookstore sells the CMS-1500, the standard health insurance claim form developed by the National Uniform Claim Committee and used by all non-institutional medical providers or suppliers to bill Medicare carriers. It is also used to bill some Medicaid State Agencies.

GPO also provides access to an array of Medicare resources through its Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP), including a collection of free eBooks. Through the CGP, users can access the descriptive catalog record for each publication, as well as a direct link to any publication that available online. Some of the free eBooks available on Medicare topics are:

The CGP and FDsys provide access to a wide variety of other Government documents related to Medicare. Here is just a small sampling:

You can also access countless Federal Government documents related to Medicare at Federal depository libraries nationwide. Find the Federal depository nearest you by visiting the Federal Depository Library Directory.

Happy Birthday, Medicare, and here’s to many more years of helping the American public!

How can I find these Medicare publications?

In addition to clicking on the links in the article above to find the publications, you may find these publications from the following:

And to find popular current Federal publications, you may:

  • Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks as well as print publications (with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide) from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore website at http://bookstore.gpo.gov
  • Order by Phone: You may also Order print editions by calling GPO’s  Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.
  • Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Kelly Seifert, Lead Planning Specialist for GPO’s Library Services & Content Management Division that supports the Federal Depository Library Program.

 

Leave a Comment » | Consumers, Department of Health & Human Services, Government Printing Office (GPO), Health care, Libraries | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Fighting Enemies or Disease, Asian Americans Offer a Rich Heritage

May 1, 2013

As Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month kicks off, and the anniversary of WWII’s VE (Victory in Europe) Day approaches (May 8), it’s a good time to talk about a major contribution of Asian and Pacific-Islander Americans.

Japanese Americans’ Battle of Wits with the Japanese in WW II

Nisei-Linguists-CMH_70-99-1The book Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During WWII published by the Army’s Center of Military History is an excellent starting point to examine that history. When the United States entered WWII in 1941, the War Department knew that their intelligence efforts would not be successful without understanding of Japanese language and culture. However, few Americans other than the 300,000 or so Japanese Americans living mainly on the West Coast and Hawaii had such knowledge.

The War Department tapped the talents and skills of the second generation (Nisei) Japanese Americans. The Western Defense Command chose sixty Nisei soldiers for Japanese language training at the Fourth Army Intelligence School at the Presidio in San Francisco. The school moved to the Midwest after Pearl Harbor, first locating it in Camp Savage and later in Fort Snelling. The program, renamed the Military Intelligence Service Language School, ran until 1946. Nearly six thousand military linguists graduated from the school to enter the Military Intelligence Service (MIS).

MISCrissyField

Image: Nisei linguists undergoing training at MIS Crissy Field.

In addition to telling the story of the program and school, the book also describes how the Nisei served with every major unit and headquarters in the Pacific theater. It is testimony to the Nisei’s loyalty and smarts that it took the War Department only two years to get the Nisei military intelligence program up and running. The Nisei braved considerable prejudice to work for U.S. military intelligence, and there is no doubt their participation in American intelligence efforts made the war end earlier.

No one told the story of these linguists for years after WWII, and it was not until the 1980s and 1990s that people began to talk about their experiences with the program. Finally in 1994, Senator Daniel K. Akaka and some other Congressional members asked the Secretary of the Army to publish an official history of the Nisei linguists. This book is the result of that request.

Learn more about the Nisei language intelligence program by picking up a copy of this fascinating volume at the GPO Online Bookstore in Paperback edition or as an eBook.

Asian Americans Battle Disease Today

Epidemiologic-Profile-2010-Asians_coverHaving turned our thoughts to how Asian-Americans contributed to the care of our nation, it’s also a good time to think about how we care for the Asian-American and Pacific-Islander American portion of the United States population. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just published Epidemiologic Profile 2010: Asians and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders.

According to the CDC, “This Epidemiologic Profile is the first compilation of infectious disease-specific data in a single report that focuses on two racial groups in the United States: the Asian population and the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population.” The volume includes a chapter in which the Census Bureau contributes to the description of the Asian and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander populations who reside in the United States.

The report tracks the involvement of Asians, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders in cases of endemic disease. Asians, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders make up a disproportionately large number of cases in some diseases (tuberculosis and hepatitis B), and in others, a smaller percentage of cases than their representation in the U.S. population (STDs and HIV). The report examines specific disease statistics, the challenges of public health education, treatment and disease risk factor mitigation for these populations.

Any public health official, student, social worker, or government employee who works with these populations would definitely want to read this book.

GPO has cataloged a record for the FREE electronic version that Federal depository libraries got in the April 2013 record load.

How can I access the records to both these publications?

How can I purchase Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During WWII?

Our guest blogger is Jennifer K. Davis from GPO’s Library Services & Content Management Division that supports the Federal Depository Libraries Program (FDLP). (Article is adapted from an original  post in the FDLP Community site.)

8 Comments | Center of Military History, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Civics and Citizenship, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Department of Health & Human Services, Foreign Relations, Health care, Military History, U.S. Army, U.S. History, World War II | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michele Bartram, U.S. Government Online Bookstore

Health Care Legislation Update

April 6, 2010

The other day I replied to a comment about the availability of the new health care law. Since then, we’ve received other questions, so I thought it might be helpful to provide the latest information we have available. First, GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) has various documents here and printed copies are available for purchase here. The Congressional Record, V. 156, No. 43, Book 2, March 21, 2010 includes the text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Public Law 111-148, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is being printed and is currently expected to be available around May 25. Public Law 111-152, Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which contains changes to the initial Act and provisions related to education, has just been submitted for printing. I hope this helps!

5 Comments | Health care | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

%d bloggers like this: