Readers Speak Out on Work Requirements, Federal Data Grab, Opioid Payback Cash
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Work Requirements Unfairly Burden Medicaid Applicants Great story (“A Deloitte-Run System Denied Medicaid Benefits for Michigan’s Disabled. Now Trump’s Law Piles On,” July 21). However, a key point was missed. The […]
People With Disabilities Say Medicaid’s Limits on Income Stifle Career Advancement
MACY, Neb. — Erica Carter is passionate about her job, and she has seven acres of flowers and vegetables to show for it. Carter’s specialty is reeling in grants to support students in the Omaha Nation school district, where she is a finance manager. One paid for the garden that sits next to the district’s […]
Hospitals Say They Found a Tool To Help Reduce Childbirth Risks: Wristbands
Hospitals across the U.S. are trying to reduce maternal deaths and complications after pregnancies using one small tool: a silicone wristband stamped with the declaration “I Gave Birth.” The wristbands are part of a growing initiative first launched by North Carolina-based ECU Health as Congress sought to address the nation’s growing maternal mortality crisis during […]
Hospital Prepayment Requirements Add New Wrinkles to Patients’ Financial Responsibility
Thomas Zordani flew from his home in Denver to Phoenix for a consultation with a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon, hoping to find out what could be done to treat his debilitating headaches after worrisome brain scan findings. When making the appointment, Zordani said, he’d been told the clinic was in his insurer’s network. Upon arrival, Zordani […]
Years After He Quit Smoking, a Lung Cancer Scan Saved His Life
Dennis Schmidt started smoking as a teenager, when that was so unexceptional that his Catholic high school designated outdoor “senior smoking quarters,” where students in their final year could take cigarette breaks. He smoked a pack of menthols daily for nearly 40 years. As a registered nurse at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and […]
Patients Wary of Governments, Companies Pushing AI as a Rural Healthcare Solution
HOT SPRINGS, S.D. — Two of the nation’s most powerful health officials predict artificial intelligence will play a key role in solving rural America’s health challenges. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a panel of U.S. senators that AI nurses can provide “concierge care” to rural patients. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for […]
A Federal Policy Is Complicating How Organizations Battle the Opioid Crisis
Last year, Baltimore had three mass overdose incidents in the span of three months in its Penn North neighborhood. In one incident, more than two dozen people were hospitalized after many were found unresponsive, lying in the streets or on sidewalks. No one died, but some came close. Follow-up testing found that the street drugs […]
Same Knee Surgery, Twice the Price: Hospital Monopolies Push Up Healthcare Costs
More than a million times a year, a U.S. surgeon slices open a knee, strips out worn cartilage, caps the leg bones with metal, and drops in a plastic spacer to allow the new joint to glide. While knee replacement procedures have become standard, however, the prices charged have not. At Catawba Valley Medical Center […]
Many States Cover Doula Care, but Access to a ‘Birthing Bestie’ Is Often Out of Reach
Doula Taja Iglesias and her business partner have built a space in Alexandria, Virginia, that’s all things pregnancy, birth, and childcare. Comfortable couches in one area invite expectant parents to settle in for birth education classes. In another, a colorful pile of toys await the babies and toddlers. And there’s a free supply of diapers […]
Budget Battle Erupts in Nation’s Capital Over Opioid Settlement Money
For years, Washington, D.C., has paid for Medicaid — the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people — out of its general budget. But next year, the city is shifting part of that recurring multimillion-dollar cost to a new funding source: opioid settlement dollars. That’s raising red flags for addiction recovery advocates, people directly affected […]