Category: Health Policy
Telehealth’s Limits: Battle Over State Lines and Licensing Threatens Patients’ Options
If you live in one state, does it matter that the doctor treating you online is in another? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, and the ability to conduct certain virtual appointments may be nearing an end.
U.S. health system ranks last among 11 high-income nations, study finds.
Remarkably, a high-income person in the U.S. was more likely to report financial barriers than a low-income person in nearly all the other countries surveyed: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.
Compliance and Defiance: States React to New CDC Mask Guidelines
CDC’s reversal on mask recommendations led to more disagreement between Republican and Democratic politicians over masks and other pandemic-related public health precautions.
New State Laws Hamstring Public Health Officials
Newly minted state laws may prevent many public health measures—or at least make them difficult to impose.
Benjamin Franklin’s fight against a deadly virus
Colonial America was divided over smallpox inoculation, but he championed science to skeptics
What the Media Gets Wrong About Red-State Vaccine Hesitancy
Poor White people expressing hesitancy typically have strong religious beliefs, face disproportionate economic and access barriers to vaccination, and have legitimate reasons to mistrust the medical system.
How Patent Extensions Keep Some Drug Costs High
Many of the granted patents are for minor tweaks, such as combining two drugs into one or altering the dosage — changes that aren’t inventive
Supreme Court Declines to Overturn ACA — Again
Justices ruled that the suing states and the individual plaintiffs lacked “standing” to bring the case to court.
Laws to Help Patients Get Pricey Drugs Fall Short, Advocates Say
Opponents say requirement that doctors use ‘step therapy’ protocols delay patients access to effective drugs.
Laws to Curb Surprise Medical Bills Might Be Inflating Health Care Costs
Doctors and other medical providers are leveraging state laws that rely on arbitration to increase in-network fees, thereby raising health care costs for everyone.
Is Your Living Room the Future of Hospital Care?
Hospital-level care at home — some of it provided over the internet — is poised to grow after more than a decade as a niche offering.
How America’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states
States with Republican governors saw more cases, more deaths.
As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them
Fed up with a lack of federal action , state legislators are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels.
Public Health Systems Still Aren’t Ready for the Next Pandemic
“We’re seeing the consequences now of a complete and utter failure to ensure we have a full and robust vaccination system.”
Biden Calls for a United Front Against Covid and Other Threats
Biden made it clear that combating the covid-19 pandemic will be his top priority.