health care

Many midwives work in the shadows as they await proper state regulation of home births

health, health care, News

Planned home births have increased over the past few years, but several states are only on the fringe of governing the practice — and the lack of regulation is hurting pregnant people.

Expectant individuals with healthy backgrounds and no medical risk factors often choose to deliver their babies in their homes. But the practice is contentious. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Medical Association (AMA) both oppose home birth, citin...

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Obamacare enrollment at 96% of last year’s levels despite Trump’s sabotage

Affordable Care Act, health, health care, News, obamacare

President Donald Trump declared Obamacare dead Wednesday after Congress passed its deeply unpopular $1.5 trillion tax overhaul bill. “Obamacare has been repealed in this bill,” he told reporters. Not only was he factually incorrect — as the bill only repeals the tax penalty for not having insurance — his statements were premature.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released its open enrollment estimate numbers on Thursday, revealing that approximatel...

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U.S. life expectancy has dropped due to the opioid crisis. All Trump has done is unlock $157,000.

health, health care, News

The life expectancy declined in 2016 for a second consecutive year, and this was largely driven by the country’s drug crisis.

Drug overdoses killed more U.S. residents in 2016 than any other year, according to a 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report on U.S. mortality. More than 63,600 people died of drug overdoses last year; roughly two-thirds, or 42,200 deaths, were associated with opioids. And experts say CDC is likely undercounting opioid-related deat...

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GOP rushed to pass tax bill, but likely won’t fund Children’s Health Insurance Program until 2018

health care, News

On Wednesday, Senate lawmakers reneged on their promise to include funding for children of low-income families in the short-term government funding bill, exacerbating the already dismal situation for the millions of children who rely on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Susan Collins (R-ME) said they do not expect to appropriate long-term funding until next year. It’s been 81 days since Congress missed the original deadline ...

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Congress repealed the Obamacare individual mandate; now states are trying to repair the damage

health care, News, obamacare

With its passage of the Republican tax bill Wednesday, Congress has successfully repealed a critical component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — but states could still safeguard current health law.

To offset a tax cut — which largely benefits wealthy individuals over the long term — Republican lawmakers repealed the individual mandate. The tax overhaul bill now goes to the president’s desk. Once the bill is signed into law, the mandate will be repealed in 20...

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Some Missouri HIV-positive patients to lose health coverage as assault on Obamacare continues

Affordable Care Act, health, health care, News, obamacare, Trump administration

Some HIV-positive patients in Missouri will lose critical health coverage in 2018, thanks to high costs and little marketplace competition. Many of the affected individuals live in rural areas, where access to health care is already limited.  

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, about 95 patients in 51 counties will lose coverage starting January 1. The state has begun notifying the patients of this change, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

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Alabama is first state to freeze enrollment to Children’s Health Insurance Program

health care, News

Alabama is the latest state to bear bad news to recipients of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), warning families Monday that it will no longer enroll children starting Jan. 1, 2018 and will terminate the program entirely on Feb. 1, 2018 if Congress fails to act.

Congressional lawmakers have yet to renew federal funding for CHIP since the program expired on Sept. 30. Since then, state officials have had to relay devastating news of funding shortages to families of...

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