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Section: Health

Congress Opens Door to Paid Family Leave

The goal to pass a national paid family leave law has turned a corner in the halls of Congress, with conservatives showing more openness to taking action after President Trump declared support for the benefit. Advocates who have long pushed for paid family leave say that the level of interest by lawmakers has been unprecedented, […]

February 28, 2018

Paid Family Leave

Study: SNAP Doesn’t Even Cover a Cheap Meal

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Most Americans receiving food assistance benefits can’t afford the cost of an average low-income meal, a new national study reported on the heels of the federal government’s proposal to limit the program. The study from the Urban Institute reported that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fell short of affording an average […]

February 28, 2018

SNAP Food Assistance

Restricting Choice

It’s time—literally—for an out-of-the-box approach to the Trump administration’s plan to help feed our most vulnerable neighbors. In last week’s presidential budget, the administration proposed replacing most Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits with a pre-selected box of mostly dry goods like peanut butter, pasta and cereal. They wanted to stop benefit recipients from choosing […]

February 26, 2018

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Doctor: Focus on Prevention to Address Disparities

Medicine has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past 75 years. Life spans have been extended, advanced cancer treatments and screenings have had a positive effect on cure rates, and drugs and antibiotics have virtually eradicated many diseases that were once deadly. Read More

February 26, 2018

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Indian Health Services Nominee Withdraws

Trump administration’s nominee Robert Weaver withdrew his name Wednesday from consideration to lead the Indian Health Service, which comes after a report that he misrepresented his work experience. “Mr. Weaver is no longer the Administration’s nominee for Director of the Indian Health Service,” a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed to CNN. The […]

February 26, 2018

Pushing for Diversity in Nursing

Studying public health as a college student, Dr. Lisa Whitfield-Harris was hesitant to expand her career to higher education, a field that required her to do more public speaking than she was used to. “I knew I wanted to be in nursing,” she says. “I didn’t figure it out until later on in my career […]

February 26, 2018

N.C. Poor Children Suffer Health Disparities

In annual report card on the health of children in North Carolina released last week drew a stark connection to economic insecurity and poor health, giving the state low grades on health issues affecting its poorest residents. The 2018 Child Health Report Card was released Monday by the N.C. Institute of Medicine and NC Child, […]

February 26, 2018

health-disparities

Helix Bridges Disconnect Between Health Care and Diversity

If it wasn’t for a personal experience with his healthcare provider, Nolan Pokpongkiat might’ve been studying software engineering and his organization, The Helix Group, wouldn’t have been born. Now a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, he founded Helix to address the lack of diversity within the healthcare field and encourage underrepresented students to […]

February 26, 2018

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Racism Still A Problem In Healthcare’s C-Suite

Black professionals who hope to reach administrative positions in hospital systems know to keep their mouths shut when it comes to issues of diversity, inclusion and race. Speak out, and they risk being branded angry or difficult, labels that stick once assigned. Better to have a silent seat at the table, than no seat at […]

February 26, 2018

Even for Bezos, Fixing Health Care Is Hard

Every year, health care consumes a larger share of the U.S. economy. Decades of grand efforts to control costs mostly haven’t worked: Health care now accounts for about 18 percent of gross domestic product. Warren Buffett has compared the system to a hungry tapeworm eating away at its corporate and taxpayer hosts. Now he’s trying […]

February 26, 2018

Bad TV, Bad Medicine

Along with a dwindling number of my medical colleagues, I’ve been watching Fox’s new TV show “The Resident,” which documents the experiences of an intern fresh out of medical school (the charming Manish Dayal), along with his chief resident (a brash but dedicated Matt Czurchy), and an assortment of other residents, nurses (including the wonderful […]

February 22, 2018

Texas Women Fight to Lower Maternal Mortality

SAN ANTONIO – There is a long list of causes that lead to maternal mortality, women dying within a year of giving birth. Those deaths are reported to be higher in Texas than anywhere else in the U.S and many other developed countries. Some women are at higher risk than others. Read More

February 22, 2018

Google Wants to Use Artificial Intelligence to Predict Heart Disease

I can look into your eyes and see straight to your heart. It may sound like a sappy sentiment from a Hallmark card. Essentially though, that’s what researchers at Google did in applying artificial intelligence to predict something deadly serious: the likelihood that a patient will suffer a heart attack or stroke. The researchers made […]

February 22, 2018

Life Expectancy Decline Linked to Drugs, Drinking, Suicide

For the second year in a row, the U.S. life expectancy rate dropped, decreasing in 2016 to 78.6, a loss of 0.1 from the previous year. It is alarming to think that, in a time when new medical advances or a better understanding of human health make headlines almost every week, children in the U.S. […]

February 22, 2018

Reversal of Alzheimer’s in Mice Offers Hope

(ABC News) — “Remarkable” — that’s how researchers are describing the results of a new study done on mice displaying traits associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The deletion of just a single enzyme saw the near total reversal of the deposition of amyloid plaques found in brains of those with Alzheimer’s, improving cognitive functions in the […]

February 22, 2018

Health Care Foot Soldier Dedicates Life to Equity

When Dr. Robert Smith was growing up in his hometown of Jackson, Miss., it was hard for most of the state’s residents to get high-quality health care. For poor Blacks, it was even harder. Health services were almost non-existent in rural parts of the nearly 50-percent Black state. In cities with hospitals, access for Blacks […]

February 22, 2018

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Trump Wants to Ease Rules on Health Benefits

The Trump administration wants to allow insurance companies to offer more policies that have limited health benefits and that can reject customers if they have pre-existing medical conditions. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says the plans, which don’t meet the legal requirements for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, will allow consumers […]

February 22, 2018

Focus on Shooter’s Mental Health Frustrates Experts

Frustration is mounting in the medical community as President Donald Trump’s administration again points to mental illness in response to a mass shooting. “The concept that mental illness is a precursor to violent behavior is nonsense,” said Dr. Louis Kraus, forensic psychiatry chief at Chicago’s Rush University Medical College. “The vast majority of gun violence […]

February 22, 2018