Content @ Finestra

"For millions of families living with chronic diseases — such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer — or other debilitating conditions, inflation is proving a punishing scourge that could be harmful to their health."

"Roughly one out of five people in the United States switch health insurance on an annual basis. We're here to talk about what Switching Insurance might mean for you and your loved ones. What things should people be aware of when they're switching insurance plans?"

"The giant health care, climate, and tax bill expected to pass the House on Friday and be sent to the president for his signature won’t be as sweeping as the Democrats who wrote it had hoped, but it would help millions of Americans better afford their prescription drugs and health insurance."

"For decades, the drug industry has yelled bloody murder each time Congress considered a regulatory measure that threatened its profits. But the hyperbole reached a new pitch in recent weeks as the Senate moved to adopt modest drug pricing negotiation measures in the Inflation Reduction Act."

"Welcome to Finestra’s Weekly Reader, wherein we recount intriguing, important, or infamous health care-related stories you may have missed over the past week."

"Some advocates and people who had experiences with the mental health system took to social media to voice concerns about 988 and warn people not to call it."

"Free COVID-19 testing is provided by the NYC Department of Health at certain COVID Express sites, which are available by appointment only. Free COVID tests are offered there for all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status."

"The same wastewater surveillance techniques that have emerged as a critical tool in early detection of covid-19 outbreaks are being adapted for use in monitoring the startling spread of monkeypox across the San Francisco Bay Area and some other U.S. communities."

Millions of people in the United States do not have health insurance. Sometimes this is the result of a divorce, losing a job, or a death in the family. But whatever, the reason we are here to tell you what you need to know about being uninsured. Why might people not have health insurance?

"In a recent development, some medical centers are offering cognitive rehabilitation to patients with long covid (symptoms that persist several months or longer after an infection that can’t be explained by other medical conditions)."

"Melanin provides some protection against sun damage, so […] those with darker skin are better protected than those with fairer skin. But overall, Black patients are more likely to be diagnosed with various forms of skin cancer at more advanced stages and have a higher mortality rate."

Welcome to Finestra’s Weekly Reader, wherein we recount intriguing, important, or infamous health care-related stories you may have missed over the past week.

After more than a week of record-breaking temperatures across much of the country, public health experts are cautioning that children are more susceptible to heat illness than adults are.

New, untested abortion bans have made doctors unsure about treating some pregnancy complications, which has led to life-threatening delays and trapped families in a limbo of grief and helplessness.

In the U.S., criminal proceedings are halted if a defendant is determined to be incompetent. What happens after that varies from state to state.

Little public attention has been focused on what is — statistically, at least — a bigger, broader debt crisis in our country: An estimated 100 million people in the U.S., or 41% of all adults, have health care debt, compared with 42 million who have student debt.

Nationally, only about 1 in 10 workers have access to employer programs that cover some or all of the costs for child care services — either on the job site or off — according to a report published last year by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Pursuing unpaid bills, nursing homes across this industrial city have been routinely suing not only residents but their friends and family, a KHN review of court records reveals.

Welcome to Finestra’s Weekly Reader, wherein we recount intriguing, important, or infamous health care-related stories you may have missed over the past week.

The Rural Emergency Hospital program, slated to launch in January, will offer to pay small, struggling hospitals to drop their inpatient beds and focus solely on emergency and outpatient care.

Estimating the cost of abortion services can be a stressful process, and one made even more difficult when prices are not easily available. Providing information about abortion costs helps people assess their options in a timely manner and make decisions accordingly.

A fellow patient at a Denver neurologist’s office mentioned something that gave Taylor hope: a CBD oil. However, her doctor would discuss it only “off the record” because CBD was illegal under federal law, and he worried about his hospital losing funding, Taylor said.

So far, Seeley has been able to live on this income — about $19,300 a year — by carefully monitoring her spending and drawing on limited savings. But should her excellent health worsen or she need assistance at home, Seeley doesn’t know how she’d pay for those expenses.

Bailee Tordai, who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy, barely made it to the prenatal checkup. Her clunky old Jeep couldn’t complete the 2-mile trip from her house to the University of Iowa’s outreach clinic in her southeastern Iowa hometown.

California lawmakers have approved a controversial no-bid statewide Medi-Cal contract for HMO giant Kaiser Permanente over the objection of county governments and competing health plans. But key details — including how many new patients KP will enroll — are still unclear.