Thomas Penister was uninsured for years after serving time in prison. In 2015, he applied for Medicaid coverage to see a primary care doctor as his mental health problems became debilitating. He was relieved to finally discover what was wrong: his doctor diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit disorder, severe sleep apnea (a common nighttime breathing disorder), and anxiety.
Continued treatment of these illnesses allowed him to get his life back, he said...
health
First lawsuit filed against Kentucky’s Medicaid work rules. The health care of thousands is at risk.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) upended the state’s Medicaid program two weeks ago by imposing work requirements, premiums, and other administrative changes on some enrollees. Changes to the half-century program will move 95,000 people off Medicaid coverage, state officials said. Advocates warned early on there would be lawsuits, and on Wednesday, the first one came.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, National Health Law Program, and Kentucky Equal Justice Center filed the class ac...
DREAMers in New York will continue to be eligible for Medicaid, even if DACA expires
New York recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will continue to be eligible for state-funded Medicaid — regardless if DACA is terminated.
“Information you give us will not be shared,” according to the website of the state’s health insurance marketplace NY State of Health. A common fear among undocumented immigrants is that their information could be shared with the Trump administration if they seek health insurance.
La...
Private health insurance sector calls for increase to Medicare levy surcharge
Private Healthcare Australia says surcharge not a strong enough incentive given rising premiums
High-income earners should be penalised at a higher rate through the Medicare levy surcharge for failing to take out private health insurance, the insurance sector says.
Single people who earn more than $90,000 and families earning more than $180,000 pay an extra 1%-1.5% levy if they do not have private health cover, with the levy tiered according to income.
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Dear American right-wing media, ‘socialism’ isn’t to blame for the NHS crisis. Austerity is.
Britain’s National Health Service is in crisis.
The publicly-funded healthcare system, which has been part-and-parcel of British life since its foundation in 1948, has faced its worst winter crisis in more than 30 years. A combination of a severe flu outbreak, cold weather, an aging population, and high levels of respiratory disease has left the system near breaking point.
Patients have spoken of 12-hour waits at emergency rooms, ambulances have been left queuing outsid...
Many midwives work in the shadows as they await proper state regulation of home births
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...
Obamacare enrollment at 96% of last year’s levels despite Trump’s sabotage
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...
U.S. life expectancy has dropped due to the opioid crisis. All Trump has done is unlock $157,000.
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...