Insights

Can health insurance premiums actually be too low? Veteran reporter Jordan Rau's recent piece for The Atlantic investigates that very question, and in doing so, provides a master class in reporting on health insurance markets in a post-reform world.

Using a bucket as a toilet, hauling water or chopping ice to melt for daily use are daily facts of life for thousands of Alaska natives. Meanwhile, the state is flush with cash, prompting the question of why such conditions persist.

In the Pacific Northwest, are polluted waters and a diet of fish putting tribal people at risk for diseases like cancer? In the coming weeks, Washington state is likely to propose new water quality standards, which will renew public debate about how to protect coastal waters.

We've entered an interesting moment in health care. The patients hospitals and doctors have historically made money on — the so-called "frequent fliers" — have become millstones around their necks. In this ACA-era, healthcare providers and insurers must find ways to limit their return trips.

A new review published this week marshals further evidence that childhood vaccines are not associated with autism or leukemia. Meanwhile, pertussis and measles outbreaks have been on the rise, partly owing to parents choosing to not have their kids vaccinated.

News reports on health reform tend to focus on patients and consumers. But how are doctors faring? Some voice complaints of administrative kinks, reimbursement struggles, and coverage confusion. But not all of these problems are new, and some docs emphasize the gains being made.

Like fashion and football, health care has its trends. And one of the bigger trends now is “hot-spotting,” the practice of using data to identify those who are the “super utilizers” of the health care system and surrounding them with services in an attempt to cut health care spending. ...

Check out this week's jobs in the health journalism field, and for journalists who cover issues in aging or work for ethnic media outlets, don't forget to apply to the the Journalists in Aging Fellows program this week.

Last week, the Health Officers Assoc. of California announced it will launch a continuing medical education program for valley fever. It shouldn't have required widespread press and the new U.S. House majority leader to get to this point.