Notions of personal failure and our collective ignorance of what it’s like to live on $8.60 a day help explain why 20 states have not covered the very poorest, and why Medicaid as we know it could disappear.
On Monday, Montana became the 30th state to expand Medicaid. On Tuesday, election results cast Kentucky's Medicaid expansion into doubt. What does this all have to do with kids' health? When it comes to children's health insurance, a state's Medicaid status can make a big difference.
Larry Keller doesn’t mince words when it comes to how he feels about the country’s health law. “A typical Cincinnati conservative would rather slit his wrists than consider a so-called Obamacare policy," he said. "But no exaggeration, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Healthcare.gov website."
Rachel Hill has her diabetes under control after two years of not having insurance. Larry Keller is cancer free after a life-saving surgery, made possible by new insurance coverage. But a glut of new consumers now covered by Medicaid are waiting as much as four months before seeing a doctor.
To document Rubbertown, Ky., residents’ claims of unusually high rates of disease, I needed hard data. Originally, I had planned a health survey of the areas around the industrial plants. When that proved impractical, I enlisted a state health monitoring agency.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 36 states have operational Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs that look for patients who are trying to feed an addiction. Only a handful track doctors who are prescribing outside the norm.
Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, NARA, offers inpatient and outpatient drug treatment and a 70-bed residential program in Portland, Oregon.
Research from across the nation shows that treating drug addiction reduces crime and medical expenses while boosting employment, meaning every dollar spent on treatment actually saves an average of $7.
This organization receives more than 40,000 calls a year to its crisis lines, which guide addicts through those dark moments by connecting them with the treatment they need.
Michael Donta, 24, tried to seek help for his prescription drug addiction but was never successful and he eventually took his own life in 2010.
