Insights

Make sure to check out the Dart Awards and Health Care Print Journalism Awards for your hard work of 2012 to be recognized.

How much did the tobacco industry give to state candidates, committees, and ballot measures during the 2012 election cycle? 

The tobacco industry has never been shy about flexing its financial muscle to influence policy. A report released this week looks at the tobacco lobby’s efforts to derail increased cigarette taxes and another sheds some not so flattering light on state and federal efforts to control tobacco use.

So far, Mary Isham has met 50% of her $60,000 goal to pay for a cancer treatment she could only find in Europe, thanks to a website that helps people raise money for medical expenses.

Some problems can arise when journalists report on their own health care. But first-person health care stories, when done right, can deliver a valuable public service.

Annually, Medicare pays about $6 million for telehealth services, according to the IOM. In comparison, Medicare paid over $3 billion to providers participating in Electronic Health Record incentive programs from 2011 to 2012.

While school-based health centers around the country have increased students’ access to health care, some children and teens still have limited access to needed services, like behavioral health and dental care.

When a new car comes on the market, car writers rush to drive, dissect, and describe in detail all the ways it will make your life better or worse. If health writers could learn to think more like car writers in this regard, health consumers would be much better informed.

When the FDA says that a drug is approved to treat nearly 20 different diseases, you can assume the agency is right and that a true wonder drug is working miracles in the marketplace or examine the evidence.