On Disabilities

Attorney Marc Scanlon meets with client Kimberly Ledezma at Salud Family Health Centers' clinic in Commerce City, Colo. Every day in this Denver suburb, four lawyers join the clinic's physicians, psychiatrists and social workers to consult on cases, as pa

Health & Safety

Sometimes Lawyers Can Improve A Patient's Health When Doctors Can't

7:05pm August 31, 2021

by Jakob Rodgers

Putting lawyers in medical clinics — sometimes funded by Medicaid — is based on the idea that fixing some legal woes can be vital to good medical care. Emerging evidence suggests that works.

In the 1970s, Vernice Davis Anthony was one of dozens of Detroit public health nurses who regularly fanned out throughout the city, building trust. They visited the home of every new mom and worked in schools, tracking cases of infectious diseases and mak

Health & Safety

Detroit Once Tried To Privatize Public Health. Now It's Trying To Rebuild

2:08pm August 06, 2021

by Anna Maria Barry-Jester

With bankruptcy looming in 2012, Detroit largely dismantled its public health department. Years later, that decision offers a cautionary tale to other U.S. cities as the painful rebuilding continues.

Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient.

Author Helen Hoang Talks Sex, Autism And Freedom

5:30pm July 30, 2021

by Alyssa Jeong Perry

This summer, Code Switch is laser-focused on books that teach us about freedom. Today, we're in conversation with a romance novelist whose own identity helped inform a rich cast of characters.

Home Health Aides, Who Help Elderly And Disabled People, Are In Short Supply

8:02am July 18, 2021

by Kavitha Cardoza

Home health aides work for low wages, but they're critical for elderly and disabled people. A proposal to inject billions of dollars in federal funding may be an opportunity for sweeping change.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who has helped the U.S. through other crises like the Zika outbreak, is now taking on health misinformation around COVID-19, which he says continues to jeopardize the country's efforts to beat back the virus.

Health & Safety

The U.S. Surgeon General Is Calling COVID-19 Misinformation An 'Urgent Threat'

11:33am July 15, 2021

by Geoff Brumfiel

The nation's top doctor, Vivek Murthy, says misinformation will keep sowing mistrust and endangering lives unless all Americans do their part to fight it.

Health conditions exacerbated by obesity include heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, according to the CDC. Researchers say the newly approved drug Wegovy could help many who struggle with obesity lose weight.

Health & Safety

Obesity Drug's Promise Now Hinges On Insurance Coverage

7:48pm July 06, 2021

by Yuki Noguchi

Clinical trials show Wegovy triples the average weight loss seen with other drugs. Whether it will reach many patients largely depends on whether insurers decide to cover it.

Advocates for expanding Medicaid in Kansas staged a protest outside the entrance to the statehouse parking garage in Topeka in May 2019. Today, twelve states have still not expanded Medicaid. The biggest are Texas, Florida, and Georgia, but there are a fe

12 Holdout States Haven't Expanded Medicaid, Leaving 2 Million People In Limbo

5:12pm July 01, 2021

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

They don't qualify for Medicaid in their states, but earn too little to be eligible for subsidized ACA health plans. It's a gap in health care coverage, and some politicians are trying to fix it.

Kathleen McAuliffe, a home care worker for Catholic Charities in a Portland, Maine, suburb, helps client John Gardner with his weekly chores. McAuliffe shops for Gardner's groceries, cleans his home and runs errands for him during her weekly visit.

With Workers In Short Supply, Seniors Often Wait Months For Home Health Care

5:03am June 30, 2021

by Phil Galewitz

Seniors, their families and states are eager to keep older Americans in their homes and out of nursing homes, but those efforts are often thwarted by worker shortages and low pay.

A Disabled Veteran Tells His Story For National PTSD Awareness Day

8:00am June 27, 2021

To mark National PTSD Awareness Day on Sunday June 27, we hear the story of a disabled veteran and his wife, and their journey through trauma and its aftermath.

After experiencing a suicidal crisis earlier this year, Melinda, a Massachusetts 13-year-old, was forced to remain 17 days in the local hospital's emergency room while she waited for a space to open up at a psychiatric treatment facility. She was only all

Health & Safety

Kids In Mental Health Crisis Can Languish For Days Inside ERs

12:47pm June 23, 2021

by Martha Bebinger

The practice of housing children who are in psychiatric crisis in local ERs — often for days, while they await appropriate in-patient treatment — has become even more prevalent during the pandemic.