Healthcare Systems & Policy

Health care super-users are often chronically ill, alone and with limited incomes. They typically need the medical skills of a trained health-care professional, but also the listening, counseling and support offered by social workers and clergy.

Proposition 46, the California ballot measure backed by plaintiffs’ attorneys and opposed by physicians, was soundly defeated by a 2-to-1 margin. The fact that Proposition 46 was a bundle trying to be all things to all patient safety advocates was probably its downfall.

California mirrors the country's rising rate of C-section births — up by 50 percent in 10 years. That worries experts, who say the procedure carries added costs and risks. But data-driven efforts are underway in the state to turn the tide, with some notable early success.

After a resounding defeat Tuesday, backers of Prop. 45 vow to press on with efforts to give California's insurance commissioner greater regulatory authority over insurance rates. Meanwhile, one prominent health policy expert said the failed measure was "a huge threat to health reform in the state."

Last fall, we had no idea how the Obamacare rollout was going to go. So Politico's Jennifer Haberkorn hit the road, and found very different experiences between states. She shares some of the lessons learned along the way, and how she found enrollees willing to tell their stories.

For many of the patients who are known as "super-utilizers" of the health care system, the issue of simply getting to treatment is critical and sometimes more problematic than getting the treatment itself. The picture is often complicated by the disabilities and haphazard lives of these patients.

Addiction usually leaves a wake of chaos, and all kinds of casualties - marriages, jobs, health. Today's opioid addiction crisis is not only claiming lives, but sparking a new epidemic of hepatitis C among new injection drug users.

Prevention is key when it comes to reducing the harmful long-term health affects of toxic stress and childhood adversity. But when prevention is no longer an option, could mindfulness help adult survivors lead healthier, higher-quality lives?

Despite Wendy Davis' filibuster, Texas lawmakers passed strict new abortion regulations in 2013. Here's what one reporter on the front lines learned from covering the changing landscape of women’s health and abortion in the Lone Star State.

The Affordable Care Act has made it easier to obtain drug addiction treatment services like methadone in California, but access to detox centers remains limited.