Pharmacists are convenient, accessible and trusted. Improving reimbursements and making permanent the authority they were given for the pandemic will increase immunization rates and save lives.
Last May, Oregon became the first state to veer away from the CDC’s COVID-positive recommendations to stay home for five days and wear a mask for another five. Now, the CDC is considering revising its policy to follow Oregon’s.
At least 19 states are directing money from Medicaid into housing aid and addressing the nation’s growing homelessness epidemic. Homelessness jumped last year to 12 percent nationally.
The Biden administration wants to help remove all lead service lines in the U.S. within the next decade. A new report from the Center for American Progress highlights progress in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Future in Context
Mental health, climate and workforce are at the core of a complex cluster of issues confronting lawmakers this year.
Changes in state laws are making it easier for drug users and responders to test drugs for additives that can prove fatal.
The polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals that help make firefighting gear so protective. But they also produce an increased risk of exposure to carcinogens.
We’re now experiencing the second-biggest wave of infections since omicron. Yet we cling to complacency and the false belief that the virus will burn out and go away.
The nine hospitals in the system increasingly find themselves short on beds and staff, with seven of the hospitals routinely exceeding 95 percent bed capacity. At least 20 percent of staff in the system did not believe their facility was a safe space for patients.
Health insurance premiums in the state have risen 49 percent in the last decade, which may be a result of industry business mergers. More than 80 percent of residents are worried about affording health care in the future.
Seattle neighborhoods within two miles of Amazon’s “last mile” facilities were exposed to twice as much traffic from trucks and other delivery vehicles than other communities, with a disproportionate impact on communities of color.
A group of state lawmakers, advocates and parents are working to change a Medicaid rule that limits psychiatric hospital stays to 15 days a month, but the change would need $7.2 million annually and federal approval.
The state has dropped more than 130,000 of its 500,000 Medicaid beneficiaries since April and about 30 percent of those disenrolled were left uninsured, which could be a bad sign for the rest of the nation.
When Arkansas expanded Medicaid in 2014, it used expansion dollars to buy private insurance for uninsured residents, making thousands more eligible for coverage. Georgia is considering a similar idea as a way to roll back hospital regulations.
The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record globally as was the 12-month period ending Oct. 31. Nationally, 1,784 people have died from heat-related causes so far this year, almost double the amount in 2018.
One scholar thinks we have carried our penchant for urban tree-worship a bit too far, giving nature too much credit for city-dwellers’ mental health.
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