health care

Matching patients with social workers, housing and medical support doesn't actually reduce costly hospital readmissions, a study finds. Still, some say it can transform lives.

Health & Safety

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints

5:00pm January 08, 2020

Matching the sickest patients with social workers and medical support doesn't reduce costly hospital readmissions, a study finds. Still, some believe greater social investment could make a difference.

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Student demonstrators cheered in 2015 outside the Supreme Court after learning that the high court had upheld the Affordable Care Act as law of the land. But Republican foes of the federal health law are still working to have it struck down.

Stakes High For Democrats And Republicans In Bid To Rush ACA To Supreme Court

5:00am January 08, 2020

by Julie Rovner

Both sides say they want the high court to quickly weigh in on a case that could invalidate the federal health law. Whatever the court decides will likely have consequences in 2020 elections.

from local story: "Sickle cell pain has a mind of its own," said Anesha Barnes, who's had the disease since she was a baby. She says the longer she stays in a pain crisis, the harder it is to break out of it.

Effort To Control Opioids In An ER Leaves Some Sickle Cell Patients In Pain

4:29pm January 02, 2020

by Sam Whitehead

People with sickle cell disease aren't fueling the opioid crisis, research shows. Yet some ER doctors still treat patients seeking relief for agonizing sickle cell crises as potential addicts.

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A Massachusetts woman who had an abortion when she was 15 stands outside the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston. Right now, girls facing that decision who don't want to tell their parents must get a judge's approval.

Massachusetts May Drop Requirement That Minors Get Permission For Abortion

7:21am January 02, 2020

by Martha Bebinger

The state now requires women and girls under 18 to obtain permission from their parents or a judge. But in a recent poll, most Massachusetts voters favored letting minors decide on their own.

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A 5-pound newborn girl is swaddled in a blanket in a hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan. She was born on Jan. 1, 2020.

UNICEF Estimates 400,000 Babies Will Be Born On New Year's Day

10:28am January 01, 2020

Over half those births will happen in just eight countries, according to the U.N. agency.

Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, appeared before the House Oversight Committee during a contentious hearing on drug pricing on Feb. 4, 2016.

Health & Safety

A Decade Marked By Outrage Over Drug Prices

3:08pm December 31, 2019

by Sydney Lupkin

Nearly 1 in 4 Americans has trouble affording prescription drugs, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Over the past decade, high prices of several medicines have become flashpoints.

From left: Sekou Sheriff, of Barkedu village in Liberia, whose parents died at an Ebola treatment center; a polio vaccination booth in Pakistan; a schoolgirl in Ethiopia examines underwear with a pocket for a menstrual pad; an image from a video on the et

Reporters Pick Their Favorite Global Stories Of The Decade

2:26pm December 31, 2019

by Marc Silver

The topics range from a ticking time bomb in the Arctic to the art of taking selfies in an ethical way. Here are the stories selected by our contributors.

Rural Areas Across The Country Face Drastic Shortage Of Mental Health Care

4:28pm December 30, 2019

by Alisa Roth

When the last psychiatrist in International Falls, Minn., retired that meant that there is no psychiatrists for more than 100 miles. It's a story increasingly common across rural America.

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Utah And Idaho Set To Expand Medicaid Programs

8:21am December 29, 2019

by Nate Hegyi

Utah and Idaho are set to join the states that have expanded their Medicaid programs for low-income people under the Affordable Care Act.

Health & Safety

Rural Hospitals Continue To Close

9:06am December 28, 2019

by Sarah Jane Tribble

Nearly 20 rural hospitals closed in 2019, more than any year in the past decade. And more are expected to close. These rural hospitals often see too few patients to pay for their costs.

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