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News Articles: Policy-ish

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Some insurance brokers enroll people in ACA plans without consent

Some consumers "have gone months" without realizing someone had improperly enrolled them in ACA health plans, with tax credits that may need repaying. A proposed new rule would stop the practice.

January 17, 2022
|
By:
  • Julie Appleby
State Medicaid programs sign lucrative deals with transportation companies that are supposed to provide reliable free rides to and from medical care. But some shuttle drivers never show, or some patients have been injured during rides because their wheelchairs were not properly secured, according to lawsuits.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Medicaid pays millions for patient transportation. Sometimes the ride never comes

Medicaid's transportation contracts can be worth tens of millions for companies that land them. But patients say rides to and from medical care often show up late — or sometimes not at all.

January 12, 2022
|
By:
  • Rebecca Grapevine and
  • Andy Miller
Jamie Beck, who has a mild intellectual and developmental disability, was placed in a guardianship at the age of 19, after her parents died. She remained in the guardianship for eight years, before transitioning to to a supported decision-making arrangement.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Britney Spears left her guardianship, but others who want independence remain stuck

If a judge rules a person can't make their own decisions, the next step can be a legal guardianship or conservatorship. Some states allow less restrictive options, but advocates say it's not enough.

January 09, 2022
|
By:
  • Carter Barrett
Gordon Isaacs, the first patient treated with the linear accelerator (radiation therapy) for retinoblastoma in 1957, sitting on a table. Gordon's right eye was removed January 11, 1957 because the cancer had spread. His left eye, however, had only a localized tumor that prompted Henry Kaplan to try to treat it with the electron beam. Gordon's vision in the left eye returned to normal.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

50 years ago, Nixon gave the U.S. a 'Christmas gift.' It launched the war on cancer

The National Cancer Act became law 50 years ago. Cancer went from shameful taboo to one of the best-funded areas of medicine. Much of the credit for this transformation goes to one woman, Mary Lasker.

December 23, 2021
|
By:
  • Gabrielle Emanuel
Gordon Isaacs, the first patient treated with the linear accelerator (radiation therapy) for retinoblastoma in 1957, sitting on a table. Gordon's right eye was removed January 11, 1957 because the cancer had spread. His left eye, however, had only a localized tumor that prompted Henry Kaplan to try to treat it with the electron beam. Gordon's vision in the left eye returned to normal.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

50 years ago, Nixon gave the U.S. a 'Christmas gift.' It launched the war on cancer

The National Cancer Act became law 50 years ago. Cancer went from shameful taboo to one of the best-funded areas of medicine. Much of the credit for this transformation goes to one woman, Mary Lasker.

December 23, 2021
|
By:
  • Gabrielle Emanuel
Planned Parenthood volunteer Sarah Mahoney checks a list of addresses in Windham, Maine to see which door to knock on next.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

A new way to talk about abortion? In Maine, using deep conversation to reach voters

Is it possible to have calm, in-depth discussions about a fraught issue like abortion? Maine's Planned Parenthood thinks so, and is using "deep canvassing" to garner support without confrontation.

December 17, 2021
|
By:
  • Patty Wight
Demonstrators rally against laws the limit access to abortion at the Texas State Capitol on October 2, 2021 in Austin, Texas. The Women's March and other groups organized marches across the country to protest a new abortion law in Texas.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Prescribing abortion pills online or mailing them in Texas can now land you in jail

As the Supreme Court considers a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, Texas enacted a new law imposing criminal penalties for those who prescribe medication abortions via telehealth or the mail.

December 06, 2021
|
By:
  • Ashley Lopez
Community clinics say the easing of restrictions on telehealth during the pandemic has made it possible for health workers to connect with hard-to-reach patients via a phone call — people who are poor, elderly or live in remote areas, and don't have access to a computer or cellphone with video capability.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Voice-only telehealth may go away with pandemic rules expiring

State rules were temporarily loosened in 2020 to help patients get care outside a doctor's office. But is telehealth by phone safe and effective? State legislatures and insurers must soon decide.

November 23, 2021
|
By:
  • Yuki Noguchi
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra says doctors who are balking at the rules of the No Surprises Act aren't looking out for patients. "I don't think when someone is overcharging that it's going to hurt the overcharger to now have to [accept] a fair price," Becerra says. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Biden team's rules would push insurance premiums down by 0.5% to 1%.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Doctors are mad about surprise billing rules. Becerra says stop gouging patients

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says health providers who have exploited a complicated system to charge exorbitant rates will have to bear their share of the cost — or close.

November 22, 2021
|
By:
  • Michael McAuliff
When Greta Christina heard that Kaiser Permanente mental health clinicians were staging a protest on Oct. 13, 2019, over long wait times for therapy, she made her own sign and showed up to support them. She's had to wait up to six weeks between therapy appointments for her depression.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Americans can wait many weeks to see a therapist. California law aims to fix that.

Many Americans with mental illness report waiting weeks for care, even for serious depression or suicidality. Now California has a new law for insurers, limiting those wait times to two weeks or less.

November 18, 2021
|
By:
  • GPB Newsroom
Protesters take part in the Women's March and Rally for Abortion Justice in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 2. The demonstration targeted Senate Bill 8, a state law that bans nearly all abortions as early as six weeks in a pregnancy, making no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

How the Texas ban on most abortions is harming survivors of rape and incest

The Texas law has no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. Social workers say that's hurting some survivors financially, psychologically and physically.

November 16, 2021
|
By:
  • Ashley Lopez
A box and container of ivermectin arranged in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Americans against taking ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, as treatment or prevention against Covid-19.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

As constituents clamor for ivermectin, Republican politicians embrace their cause

Hospitals and doctors are facing more demands for ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment, despite no proof it works. In some Republican-dominated states, lawmakers and attorney generals are weighing in.

November 04, 2021
|
By:
  • Blake Farmer
Like many seniors, William Stork of Cedar Hill, Mo., lacks dental insurance and doesn't want to pay $1,000 for a tooth extraction he needs. Health advocates see President Biden's Build Back Better agenda as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide dental coverage to people like Stork who are on Medicare. An unlikely adversary: the American Dental Association.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Getting dental coverage added to Medicare faces pushback from some dentists

Without dental insurance, William Stork has put off getting his rotten tooth pulled; Medicare doesn't cover the $1,000 procedure. Dentists can't agree on whether all seniors should get that benefit.

October 29, 2021
|
By:
  • Bram Sable-Smith
Expanded funds for in-home care can help seniors and disabled Americans stay in their homes. Here, Lidia Vilorio, a home health aide, gives her patient Martina Negron her medicine and crackers for her tea in May in Haverstraw, N.Y.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

New federal funds spur expansion of home care services for the elderly and disabled

These services can make the difference between being able to live at home with family or landing in a nursing facility. But state Medicaid programs don't always pay for them.

October 21, 2021
|
By:
  • Selena Simmons-Duffin
In between answering 911 calls, Jerrad Dinsmore (left) and Kevin LeCaptain perform a wellness check at the home of a woman in her nineties. The ambulance team in the small town of Waldoboro, Maine was already short-staffed. Then a team member quit recently, after the state mandated all health care workers get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

In Maine, a looming vaccine deadline for EMTs is stressing small-town ambulance crews

Statewide, the COVID vaccination rate for first responders is more than 95%. But it's not as high in more rural areas, where ambulance crews can't function if just a few people quit.

October 21, 2021
|
By:
  • Patty Wight
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