Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The cost of colonoscopies, MRIs, CT scans and mammograms can vary a lot from place to place.
It costs about $1,500 less to get a colonoscopy in Middlesex County than Suffolk County. That's according to data from New Choice Health, a private company that encourages people to become smarter healthcare consumers. CT scans, MRIs and mammograms are also more affordable in Middlesex County. These big regional differences have been in the news lately: As the Washington Post wrote on Wednesday, "One hospital charges $8,000 - another $38,000." Using the same data as the Post, The New York Times listed out the prices of a series of procedures in hospitals across the country. The Federal Department of Health and Human Services recently released a report comparing hospital charges for patients on Medicare. The report comes after a 26,000 …
Monday, April 15, 2013
Newton voted for Elizabeth Warren and owns more hybrid cars than the state average.
Newton is green and blue: That’s what we found when we compared data from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to the vote in the 2012 U.S. Senate race. You can see the results in the map above: Large circles suggest towns with more hybrid ownership per capita, and the red/blue color suggests which way those towns voted last year. In Newton, 36.9 of every 1,000 vehicles is a hybrid, compared to the state average of 18. Patch’s research suggests the state has a good number of what might be called “green Republican” communities. More than 40 percent of the communities where Republican Scott Brown carried the vote have an above average numbers of hybrids. The data is a nice rebuttal to the national trends of hybrid/GOP separation: …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Thanks to the blizzard, Newton is expecting up to 24 inches of snow this weekend. See how many inches have fallen in your area with the LIVE map below.
The map above, provided by the National Weather Service, shows snowfall in the past 24 hours. It is updated every 6 hours. This is not a map showing overall snow depth: It only tracks the amount of snow that has fallen in the past day. The map is centered around the red marker, which is in the middle of Newton Patch's coverage area. How much snow do you have at your Newton home? Share your totals in the comments section below. For more Newton storm information, check out our Newton Storm Center for all the updates you need. You can also receive Newton storm updates by following us on Facebook, Twitter or our email newsletters.
