Health
The vast majority of Americans will be able to get the new vaccines at no cost through their insurance or from public health sources. But making sure it’s the right match for your plan to avoid paying can be challenging.
Three years after the first-in-the-nation law was passed, a record number of opioid overdoses, bad press and a growing homelessness crisis could slow the movement to treat addiction as a public health matter.
School officials are implementing new rules to prevent bullying and improve the mental health of teens. But some of the new policies, like a cellphone ban, are controversial. In 2021, 16 percent of high schoolers said they had been cyber bullied.
Nationally, heat was the underlying or contributing cause of about 1,670 deaths last year, making it the highest heat-related death rate in at least two decades. Substance use, the housing crisis and an aging population contribute to the problem.
Whatever communities can do to nurture “social infrastructure” — places like movie theaters, libraries and swimming pools where people gather to form social bonds — can have a profound impact on addiction and overdose death rates.
The Livingston Parish School Board has filed a lawsuit against TikTok and Instagram, claiming the platforms are so addictive they have created a mental health crisis among the district’s students.
A report found that if Black people in the state had the mortality rates that white people do, 14,000 fewer Black residents would have died between 2017 to 2022 from heart disease, chronic kidney disease and COVID-19.
Deaths for the first six months of the year are about 7.7 percent higher than they were for the same period in 2019, about a percentage higher than anticipated. The count in six states was at least 15 percent higher than pre-pandemic.
They say the Department of Social and Health Services is failing people in the criminal legal system who also have mental health issues.
Misinformation can thwart the work of public health. Leaders from the field are bringing the mindset they use to detect and contain disease to the rapid, far-reaching spread of an information epidemic.
A new poll found that nearly one-third of Americans said the dewormer ivermectin was definitely or probably an effective treatment for COVID-19. It’s not. The limited trust for the media and government had wide partisan gaps.
A patchwork of confusing and sometimes contradictory policies, involving all levels of government as well as health care providers, resulted in a chaotic response. We need to figure out how to upgrade the system for future health emergencies.
After a series of closures, the North and West sides of the city had six birthing hospitals and the South Side had three. A community-founded birthing center hopes to fill the city’s “birth deserts” and improve maternal care for Black women.
Washington state’s Lower Valley has had excess levels of nitrate in groundwater since the early 90s and in 2017, 20 percent of wells exceeded the state’s drinking water standards.
The work that public health officials do is determined by policy, but engaging with policymakers hasn’t been a strong suit for the field. A new book aims to help them do better.
Just as the city has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases this month, a cost-saving directive from Mayor Adams will close the public health library that many relied upon during the height of the pandemic.
The bills will make it easier to distribute the opioid reversal drug Narcan, create a curriculum on the dangers of certain drugs, fund a coordinated crisis services system, establish a task force to study alcohol pricing and addiction services, and more.
It will provide protections to health-care practitioners who refuse to prescribe marijuana, participate in procedures such as abortion, medically assisted death, gender-affirming care and other treatments that go against their personal beliefs.
They can help public health departments overcome staff shortages and reach those most at risk. Food programs in San Antonio are a case study in what’s possible.
Stories and statistics point to mixed success since the new 3-digit number launched last July.
Everything from fatal overdoses to the number of people suffering from severe depression has been growing at alarming rates. Counties have been providing services but insist that Washington must do more.
Doctors are testing whether ChatGPT and predictive software can help cut down on tedious tasks and improve decision-making. One example includes answering the tidal wave of emails that physicians receive daily.
The 40 COVID-19 deaths reported in Minnesota in June make up the lowest monthly total since March 2020. The state's overall toll is 14,896 — with seniors accounting for 83 percent of the deaths.
The death rate in the state’s prisons increased 34.6 percent from 2018 to 2022, which saw 135 deaths. This year is surpassing 2022’s rate even as the pandemic has waned and physical mail was stopped last year.
Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed a bill would have moved more than 200 people off waiting lists for government-supported care and saved the state money by accessing more federal Medicaid money to cover their costs.
Court officials are slowly moving away from the belief that abstinence is the only path to addiction recovery. However, a study found that while more than 90 percent of drug courts allowed medication treatments, 1 in 4 still overruled medication decisions.
Black people and other minorities already fare far worse than white people across a range of health measures and some medical professionals are worried that the court’s decision will only further widen the health equity gap.
Public health authorities and major dairy industry groups oppose selling unpasteurized milk from cows, goats and sheep, because of a heightened risk of dangerous bacteria, while federal experts say there’s no proof that pasteurized milk is less healthy.
The response to COVID-19 led to problems in schools, mental health and urban life. That doesn't mean it was all a mistake.
States have information that counties need to better target their resources and services to reduce overdose risk and save lives. Improving data sharing is a good use of opioid settlement funds.
The costs of treating cancer are soaring, just at a time when some states are moving to save money by cutting Medicaid enrollment. It’s sure to worsen health-care inequality.
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