Another 651,000 workers lost jobs in February, and there’s no relief for the economy yet in sight.

Many people know Cobra coverage is an option for former workers who want to maintain their health insurance.  But there’s a hitch – this option  applies to companies with at least 20 employees.  (For more information on Cobra, click here.)

What about people at smaller firms who end up getting laid off?

Many states have Cobra-like programs and Illinois is among them. Its program is known as Illinois Continuation. 

I asked two officials from the state’s Division of Insurance to explain how it works. Bill McAndrew is acting deputy director of the division. Mary Petersen is acting supervisor of the life, accident and health unit.

There's an interesting new story up on Salon about a family with a catastrophic insurance policy and what happened when one member got cancer.  To read it, click here.

Some take home messages:

*  A medical emergency can happen any time

*  Medical expenses can add up faster than you ever imagined

*  Charges for out-of-network care can by sky-high and hard to control

The fertility clinic operator who grabbed headlines with his promise to help parents create “designer babies” has backed away from the plan—for the moment.

Dr. Jeff Steinberg, director of The Fertility Institutes, earlier this year had offered parents the opportunity to select their future offspring’s hair, eye and skin color by genetically testing embryos.

After an outcry, he changed his mind. “Though well intended, we remain sensitive to public perception and feel that any benefit the diagnostic studies may offer are far outweighed by the apparent negative societal impacts involved,” according to a statement posted on the clinic’s Web site this week.

Fertility experts were quick to note that science didn’t support Steinberg’s marketing pitch. Although embryos created through assisted reproduction can be tested for some genetic defects, the science of selecting cosmetic traits based on DNA data is not even close to being well established.

Patients have the right to sue drug companies when they've been harmed by medications whose risks aren't adequately disclosed, the Supreme Court ruled today in an important 6-3 decision.

The much-watched case is a significant defeat for the drug industry and could open to door to thousands of lawsuits against pharmaceutical firms.

It was brought by a Vermont musician, Diana Levine, who lost her arm in 2000 after being given an injection of an anti-nausea drug at a health clinic. Gangrene set in immediately, leading to the loss of the limb.

Levine sued Wyeth, the drugmaker, alleging that it failed to sufficiently warn of serious risks associated with intraveous injection of the medication. A Vermont jury awarded the woman $6.7 million and the Vermont Supreme Court reaffirmed the verdict in 2006.

In its defense, Wyeth argued the drug’s label, which had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, advised extreme caution when the drug was injected, the Tribune’s Washington bureau reported today.  The FDA is responsible for regulating drug safety across the U.S.

I remember vividly the first time my doctor acknowledged he didn't have an answer to a medical question.

I'd come to see him with diffuse symptoms, not feeling like myself but unsure what was wrong.  It was years ago and the details escape me.

But the scene that followed my doctor's typically thorough examination remains etched in my mind.  He looked me straight in the eye then pointed upward at the ceiling with his right arm extended.

"Only He knows," he said.

I'd understood for years my doctor was religious.   Every Friday, his practice would close at noon so he could prepare for the Sabbath.  On several occasions, he'd mentioned his religious studies and how satisfying they were.

Hoping to improve care for heart attack patients, Loyola University Medical Center next month will become the first Illinois hospital to arrange for cardiologists to be on-site around the clock, seven days a week.

Currently, if a patient suffering a heart attack arrives at the hospital from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., cardiologists are called in from home. Other Illinois hospitals have similar arrangements.

But because many physicians live miles away, travel time can interfere with prompt treatment.

With the new policy, Loyola medical staff will be able to respond to heart attacks as they do trauma cases, said Dr. Mark Cichon, director of the hospital's emergency medical services. Sixty-five percent of heart attack patients arrive at Loyola, which is in Maywood, after hours.

Time is of the essence when it comes to treating heart attacks.

The sooner doctors open a blocked artery, restoring blood flow, the better the chance that a person will escape serious heart damage and death.

That puts a premium on rapid diagnosis by emergency medical staff and the prompt initiation of cardiac interventions.

Current professional standards calls for a “door to balloon” time of 90 minutes or less.
This refers to the interval between a patient’s arrival at a hospital and a doctor’s inflation of a tiny balloon in the patient’s artery.

The balloon, positioned on the tip of a long, thin wire, expands the artery to let blood pass through. Typically doctors insert a miniature metal scaffold – a stent – to keep the vessel propped open.

Because “door to balloon” time is an important measure of a hospital’s effectiveness, the federal government tracks it and posts results on its Medicare Compare Web site.

Included below are the most recent data – spanning the period from April 2007 to March 2008
– for a large sample of Illinois hospitals, sorted from the highest score to the lowest. The score represents the percentage of heart attack patients with “door to balloon” times of 90 minutes or less.

Over dinner, her 60-something mother confessed. Since she’d lost her job in real estate and didn’t have health insurance, she wasn’t going to have a mammogram this year.

“Like hell you won’t,” Dr. Leslie Ramirez blurted out at the table.

Ramirez, 42, knew there were options for her mom, places where it would be cheaper to have the screening test; she just didn’t know where. But she decided to find out.

Six months later, you can see what Ramirez discovered at www.leslieslist.org, a new Web site devoted to helping Chicagoans who are uninsured or underinsured and pay substantial amounts out of pocket for medical care.

The scoop on screening mammograms, according to the site: Our Lady of Resurrection Medical Center charges $68 for the test, compared with a $400 charge from Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The question has been hanging in the air since President Barack Obama took office.