With over 800 cases and 12 deaths attributed to a mysterious vaping-related pulmonary illness (VAPI) in the United States, a growing number of teens have been going to the family doctor with concerns about their e-cigarette vaping habits....
health
The US just promised to adopt universal health care
Every single member of the UN doubled-down today on a commitment to provide universal health coverage to their citizens. The fact that the US will be among them is perhaps evidence of how disconnected these declarations can be from actual domestic political agendas.
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A radical approach to confronting addiction puts human connection first
In 2015, Jennifer Nicolaisen was working in consulting and getting by some days on just two hours of sleep. She was a 27-year-old statistician in northern Virginia, basking in what she called “rising star energy”—the glow that came from approval from her boss, her c...
For rural America, Medicare for All is a matter of life or death | Barb Kalbach
Insurance firms are gobbling up airtime in Iowa to attack Medicare for All. They claim it would hurt the very same hospitals their business model has spent years bleeding dry
Rural hospitals are often the economic heart of a community. Worse, when minutes mean the difference between life and death, every hospital that closes leaves patients in danger. Since 2010, 113 rural hospitals have closed their doors, leaving more than 30 million Americans an hour or more away from critical car...
Why Planned Parenthood was right to refuse federal funding | Moira Donegan
The Trump administration put Planned Parenthood in an untenable position – and the organization made the moral choice to walk away
The Trump administration expanded its assault on women’s rights this week, engineering the loss of birth control and other reproductive healthcare coverage for millions of low income women.
On Monday, the administration’s Title X gag rule went into effect, barring any provider who performs abortions or even provides referrals for them from receiving...
Detroit accidentally caused a pollen crisis by bulldozing the city’s abandoned areas
Much of Detroit is in ruins. The city spreads over 139 square miles, but about 20 square miles of that—an area just under the size of Manhattan—is vacant. Home in 1950 to more than 1.8 ...
Victorian MPs to debate bill to let transgender people change birth certificate without surgery
Despite vocal opposition from the Coalition and a new women’s group, Labor bill looks set to pass parliament
The Victorian parliament is gearing up for a debate over the rights of transgender and non-binary people to be able to choose the gender listed on their birth certificates.
Under current law in Victoria, in order for transgender people to have their birth certificate changed to affirm their gender, they have to have undergone sex affirming surgery, often at great cost. It is something many transgender people do not wish to undertake, it is not covered by Medicare, and often the surgery is not available in Australia.
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NSW abortion bill passes first hurdle
Bill passes lower house of New South Wales parliament after lengthy debate
An NSW bill to decriminalise abortion has passed its first hurdle after a lengthy and passionate debate in the lower house.
However, proponents of the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 face further hurdles as it now goes to the upper house for consideration.
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The midlife crisis is getting worse
The way my mom imagined it, midlife was going to be great: counting down days until retirement, spending winters in Florida and checking off destinations on her bucket list. But it hasn’t turned out that way.
Instead of more time spent in Florida, sh...
Biden’s health care plan reveals the divide among Democrats
Presidential candidate Joe Biden released his health care plan on Monday, formally entering the Democratic debate about how to solve the country’s health care crisis, in which 26% of Americans struggle to afford services even with insurance and out-of-pocket medical costs outpace wage growth.
The Biden plan, expands upon the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by adding a government-run public option to compete alongside private insurers and making existing subsidies for private plans m...