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Section: Health

Oregon Lawmakers Vote to Make Healthcare a Right

Oregon’s Legislature took a step Tuesday toward enshrining the right to health care in the state Constitution, a move that would be unprecedented in the United States but raises serious funding questions. The House of Representatives’ 35-25 endorsement of the bill sends it to the state Senate, whose approval would put the proposed constitutional amendment […]

February 14, 2018

Black Barbershops Health Promote Heart Health

Health, specifically cardiovascular health, continues to quietly impact lives in the Black community. It is true that cardiovascular disease affects Americans from all backgrounds, but Black men are disproportionately affected. According to the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics released annually by The American Heart Association, about half of all Black males have some form of […]

February 14, 2018

Budget Cuts Funds for Tracking Global Disease

There’s a glaring hole in President Trump’s budget proposal for 2019, global health researchers say. A U.S. program to help other countries beef up their ability to detect pathogens around the world will lose a significant portion of its funding. The ambitious program, called Global Health Security Agenda, was launched in early 2014, aiming to […]

February 14, 2018

Trump Budget Slashes Funds for HHS

A major target of the budget is Medicaid, which sees more than $1 trillion in cuts and is turned into a block grant program with greater power to states to implement means-testing. The document assumes repeal of most of the ACA, but interestingly includes funding for risk corridor and cost-sharing payments for insurers. The plan […]

February 14, 2018

A No-Brainer

It began, as so many things do these days, with a Donald Trump tweet. Frustrated by his inability to kill the ‘Obamacare’ expansion of public healthcare provision in the United States, Trump seized on a protest about the under-funding of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) in London last Saturday to trash the entire concept of […]

February 12, 2018

NHS march and demonstration

Nebraska Tribe Relocating Clinic, Offices

OMAHA, Neb. — The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is planning to move its health clinic and administrative offices from Omaha to a campus southwest of the city in an effort to offer health care services to more people. The Omaha City Council unanimously approved the special permit for the move Feb. 6, the Omaha World-Herald […]

February 12, 2018

Airline Settles Veteran’s Suit Over Service Dog

American Airlines has settled a 2016 lawsuit filed by an Army veteran who complained that the company had mistreated her because of her service dog. Mississippi resident Lisa McCombs alleged that airline employees had blocked her from boarding a flight in Kansas two days in a row in October 2015 despite documentation showing Jake, her […]

February 12, 2018

Publix Markets Will Cover HIV Prevention Drug

The Southeast’s largest supermarket chain announced Tuesday that it is changing its employee prescription plan to cover a drug that helps prevent HIV infections, remedying an omission that doctors and gay rights groups said was highly unusual. Publix announced its change in a Twitter reply to Florida state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando-area Democrat […]

February 12, 2018

Spending Deal Repeals Obamacare’s Mythical “Death Panel”

Congressional leaders have agreed on a spending bill to keep the government open, and deep inside that agreement is a provision that helps explain why American health care is so expensive. The spending agreement, which Congress must still approve and President Donald Trump must still sign, actually affects health care in several ways. It would […]

February 12, 2018

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VA to Roll Out Suicide Prevention Plan

The Department of Veterans Affairs is rolling out new veteran suicide protocol in March to address its previous failures to make a dent in preventing suicide. The agency estimates the new plan will end up serving 32,000 veterans out of the more than 250,000 that leave the military annually. But senior officials estimate the cost […]

February 12, 2018

Sign-Ups for Obamacare Holding Steady in 2018

WASHINGTON — Almost 12 million Americans signed up for 2018 health coverage through marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, according to a new tally that indicates nationwide enrollment remained virtually unchanged from last year despite President Donald Trump’s persistent attacks on the 2010 health law. The new enrollment numbers — which include totals from […]

February 12, 2018

Expert: Sexual Abuse Can Lead to Physical Illness

When Rebecca Thurston read the accounts of 150 women and girls sexually abused by a Michigan athletic doctor, one of the first things she worried about was their health — not the psychological effect of the abuse, but the long-term physical toll it could take on their bodies. An epidemiologist, Thurston has spent the past […]

February 12, 2018

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The Medicaid Burden

My last column dealt with efforts to “repeal and replace” Obamacare (Affordable Care Act or “ACA”). To briefly review, the original Obamacare bill was introduced and passed in 2010 in a highly unusual manner with no debate and no amendments so the majority of its provisions were left to the Secretary of Health and Human […]

February 7, 2018

Flint Water Crisis Caused Legionnaires’ Outbreak

The city of Flint, Michigan, is still dealing with the fallout of its contaminated water crisis. In 2014, the city switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River — and in addition to the resulting dangerously high levels of lead in the water, two studies published Monday revealed that the change in […]

February 7, 2018

Noise Pollution Increases Heart Risks, Study Finds

Everyday noise pollution isn’t just hard on your ears. It’s bad for your heart, says a new study. “There is no doubt that noise makes us sick,” investigators told MedicalResearch.com. Read More

February 7, 2018

NIH: High-Salt Diet Affects Brain

Diets that are high in salt (sodium chloride) have long been associated with high blood pressure. High blood pressure raises the risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems. Studies have also linked salt intake with brain health, but the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Previous studies suggested that high levels of […]

February 7, 2018

Study Finds Biggest Black Lung Cluster Ever

Epidemiologists at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health say they’ve identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease ever reported, a cluster that was first uncovered by NPR 14 months ago. In a research letter published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, NIOSH confirms 416 cases of progressive massive […]

February 7, 2018

Researchers Measure Metal Exposure in Native Americans

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers hope to measure the effects of mixed metals and uranium waste exposure on Native American populations living in close proximity to abandoned mines, and better understand how these toxins spread through the environment. That’s the objective of the newly created Superfund Research Center at the University of New Mexico, which is […]

February 7, 2018