Trending News Today: Diabetes Patients with High-Deductible Plans More Likely to Delay Care

Individuals with diabetes who switch to high-deductible health plans may be more likely to delay care than those who remain in low-deductible plans, Reuters reported. According to the article, the study examined data on approximately 3400 individuals with diabetes who initially had employer-sponsored health plans with deductibles of $500 or less, but switched to plans with deductibles of $1000 or more. After switching to high-deductible plans, these patients waited an average of 1.5 months longer to seek care for new symptoms of cardiovascular complications, 1.9 months longer for diagnostic tests, and 3.1 months longer for medical procedures to treat these complications.

An experimental vaccine to prevent the Zika virus induced immune response and was found to be safe in an early-stage trial, Reuters reported. According to the article, the vaccine, VLA1601, was tested in 2 doses in 67 adult patients, inducing the body to produce neutralizing antibodies against the virus. The results contained analyses up to day 56 after the first vaccination, with final analysis at day 208 expected in the first quarter of 2019, the article reported.

A new study found that 34% of US parents said their child was unlikely to receive the flu vaccine this year, CNN reported. According to the article, the online poll, which was administered to 1977 parents who had at least 1 child, examined whether parents would get their children the flu vaccine and their reasoning. Forty-eight percent of parents polled said they usually followed the recommendations of their child’s health care provider when making choices about the flu vaccine, but 21% said they did not remember their health care provider making a recommendation about the vaccine, the article reported.