Insights

The Affordable Care Act was crafted with an ambitious goal of expanding health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. But they won’t enroll if they don’t know about available policies or if it’s too cumbersome or confusing to sign up for coverage.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) may be the law of the land, but it looks like Americans' ability to to access the benefits it promises will vary greatly depending on where they live. Only a minority have agreed to implement the federal law as written.

When a tragic story becomes so common that it stops generating indignation and changes, it’s a sign that it needs more analysis and buzz. Wrong should never be accepted as regular, habitual, as the usual. 

In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held a record-breaking 429,000 undocumented immigrants in over 250 detention facilities across the country. The hours and days those they are placed in detention centers have caused lasting medical and health effects.

How do leading academic health centers function in their communities? For my 2013 National Health Journalism Fellowship project, I will explore how leading, non-profit, academic health centers function in the community, not just in Pittsburgh, but nationally.

When most people think of Washington, D.C., the White House, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, and other tourist destinations usually come to mind. But Washington is also home to a growing number of Latino residents, including many Central Americans.

Researchers are growing increasingly aware that the prenatal period and early childhood are exquisitely sensitive to external insults such as environmental contaminants.

In 2003, Texas decided only to treat three mental health diagnoses: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Everyone else—and everyone who suffered from these but was misdiagnosed or undiagnosed—became ineligible for community-based health services.

Baltimore is no stranger to violence, but in recent weeks it hit proportions that stunned even a city often numb to regular shootings and stabbings. Violence puts pressure on hospital emergency rooms and paramedics. Many victims don’t die and will stress the entire health system for years to come.

NEW YORK — Almost every day an immigrant father, a mother or both are getting deported. As the deportation rate has been in record numbers, the number of children who have been left behind in the United States also continues to rise....