Health Care Delivery

Latest News


A state judge in Maine ordered Goveror Paul LePage’s administration to stop stalling and implement a Medicaid expansion; the National Institutes of Health reported on a treatment that eradicated cancer from a patient who had untreatable, advanced breast cancer; citing changes to the Affordable Care Act, insurers are proposing double-digit rate hikes for 2019.

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation outlined health insurance coverage losses between 2018 and 2028 for people under age 65 as a result of changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by the Trump administration, as the percentage of those who are uninsured will rise from 11% in 2018 to 13% by 2028.

Terry Kohl, a real estate agent in New Jersey, battled what she thought was indigestion for 6 months and went repeatedly to a gastroenterologist for what she thought was a case of “grumbly gut.” Her "indigestion" led to a coronary artery bypass surgery soon after a trip to Rome left her breathless. Read about how women experience health and healthcare differently as National Women's Health Week draws to a close.

Surveys collected as part of the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate increased significantly in 17 states from 2016 to 2017. At the same time, no states reported statistically significant decreases in the uninsured rate. This is the first time since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act that states have reported increases in the uninsured rate.

While use of services at federally qualified health centers has increased particularly since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the increasing trend started back in 2002, said M. Kristina Wharton, MPH, of the Department of Global Health Management and Policy at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

An FDA panel recommended approval of a marijuana-derived medicine for the treatment of severe seizures in children with epilepsy; prescriptions for opioid painkillers continued to fall while the number of new monthly prescriptions for medications that treat opioid use disorder nearly doubled over the past 2 years; GOP candidates in midterm races this fall are retreating from calls to further dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

Nine in 10 people with non-group health insurance will continue buying coverage despite the repeal of the individual mandate and express worry over future availability and price of health coverage, according to a health tracking poll from Kaiser Family Foundation. The poll also found that for the uninsured, the main reason for not purchasing coverage is that it is too expensive.

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund says the Trump administration’s proposed regulations encouraging the sale of various health insurance plans that are noncompliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is likely to leave the marketplaces with a smaller group of enrollees who are sicker, unless states step in to consider “regulatory options” to protect the individual insurance market.