With Trump on the Way, Advocates Look to States To Pick Up Medical Debt Fight
Worried that President-elect Donald Trump will curtail federal efforts to take on the nation’s medical debt problem, patient and consumer advocates are looking to states to help people who can’t afford their medical bills or pay down their debts. “The election simply shifts our focus,” said Eva Stahl, who oversees public policy at Undue Medical…
12 States Promised To Open the Books on Their Opioid Settlement Funds. We Checked Up on Them.
To discover how millions in opioid settlement funds are being spent in Idaho, you can visit the state attorney general’s website, which hosts 91 documents from state and local entities getting the money. What you’ll find is a lot of bureaucratese. Nearly three years ago, these jurisdictions signed an agreement promising annual reports “specifying the…
Dentists Are Pulling ‘Healthy’ and Treatable Teeth To Profit From Implants, Experts Warn
Becky Carroll was missing a few teeth, and others were stained or crooked. Ashamed, she smiled with lips pressed closed. Her dentist offered to fix most of her teeth with root canals and crowns, Carroll said, but she was wary of traveling a long road of dental work. Then Carroll saw a TV commercial for…
Florida Medical Device Maker Exactech Declares Bankruptcy
Exactech, a Florida device manufacturer that faces more than 2,000 state and federal lawsuits from patients who allege the company sold defective hip and knee implants, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday. The Gainesville-based company said in a statement it was restructuring and would be sold to an investor group of private equity and “alternative asset”…
Black Americans Still Suffer Worse Health. Here’s Why There’s So Little Progress
KINGSTREE, S.C. — One morning in late April, a small brick health clinic along the Thurgood Marshall Highway bustled with patients. There was Joshua McCray, 69, a public bus driver who, four years after catching covid-19, still is too weak to drive. Louvenia McKinney, 77, arrived complaining about shortness of breath. Ponzella McClary brought her…
Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu
Bird flu cases have more than doubled in the country within a few weeks, but researchers can’t determine why the spike is happening because surveillance for human infections has been patchy for seven months. Just this week, California reported its 15th infection in dairy workers and Washington state reported seven probable cases in poultry workers.…
California Mental Health Agency Director To Resign Following Conflict of Interest Allegations
California’s mental health commission on Thursday announced its executive director would resign amid revelations that he traveled to the U.K. courtesy of a state vendor while he sought to prevent a budget cut that would have defunded the company’s contract. Toby Ewing, executive director of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, will step…