Insights

<p>The plight of Hispanic teens at risk of becoming young parents illustrates how social determinants – poverty, employment, educational attainment, housing, the environment and safety – affect community health. </p>

<p class="MsoNormal">There's a vigorous debate underway in Massachusetts about how to control rising health care costs.&nbsp;This is pretty dense stuff that the public does not, for the most part, understand or have the stamina to take in. But it's really important.<span><br /></span></p>

<p>The American public for years paid physicians millions of dollars in Medicare bonuses to treat the medically needy. Here's how one reporter told that story.</p>

<p>Interested in covering veterans' issues? Poynter News University has a webinar for you. Also, take a look at this week's handful of opportunities in web reporting and editing.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Great study out this week from John A. Hartford Foundation on lack of usage of Medicare wellness benefit that is no cost to seniors under the Affordable Health Care Act</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Here's Forbes take on the story. And there are plenty of related potential stories out there. Do seniors and their doctors know and care about this?</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Most of the media missed the genetic glitch in the latest search for the elusive G-spot. An update to the version published in Scientific American blogs, April 25, 2012.</p>

<div style="width: 600px;"><p>When I left for a week of reporting in rural California in late February, I didn't know I would come back with two stories about the devastating health consequences of isolation.</p><p>I'm not just talking about the geographic isolation one finds in a remote area. From the hilly evergreen landscape of eastern Shasta County, to the agricultural flatlands of Tulare County in the South Central Valley, I witnessed how isolation can leave people in the dark about keeping healthy, lead to emotional despair, and pose real barriers to quality of life.</p></div>

<p class="MsoNormal">Medical devices undeniably save and improve lives, but they can also malfunction or prove to be defective and pose serious risks for patients. So, as someone in the medical field, how do you stay up-to-date on medical device safety and recalls? The FDA does its best to keep doctors informed about medical device recalls, but communication from the FDA doesn’t always reach doctors soon enough.</p>

<p>Consumers Union takes up my challenge to help put hospital-acquired infections on the map&nbsp;— literally.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Fixing Medicare without paying for it, health reform's insurance rebates, and controversial distribution of a heroin overdose antidote, plus more from our Daily Briefing.</p>