TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a package of bills Thursday that supporters say will help improve access to health care, increase the number of doctors in Florida and address issues such as mental-health treatment.
“What they (state leaders) are tackling right now are some of the biggest challenges that we face in the Sunshine State, and that’s access to health care in a reliable, reproducible, sustainable kind of way,” said Tampa General Hospital President and CEO John Couris, who took part in a bill-signing event in Bonita Springs. “There are critical shortages in the health care workforce. We’ve seen…
Governor JB Pritzker joined doctors, patients, stakeholders, and legislators to highlight efforts to reform predatory health insurance practices and protect patients. The Healthcare Protection Act (HPA), first introduced in the governor’s FY25 Budget Address in late February, aims to put power back into the hands of patients by banning step therapy, banning prior authorization for crisis mental health care, improving network adequacy, and ending unchecked rate increases for large group insurance companies. HPA is targeting utilization management, which often forces consumers to obtain permission from their providers before receiving care that doctors have already determined is necessary. This increases profits…
Georgia Democrats on Capitol Hill are again expressing concern over the number of children losing their health insurance coverage during the nationwide Medicaid redetermination process, which has been ongoing since last spring after COVID-19 public health emergency protections ended.
As of last fall, roughly 150,000 Georgia children had their health coverage cut off, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The agency has repeatedly urged the state to do more to keep kids covered.
Now, Mon. Jon Ossoff and Rep. Lucy McBath has sent a joint letter urging Gov. Brian Kemp to improve the state’s…
When the public health emergency related to COVID-19 ended, so did continuous Medicaid health insurance coverage for many vulnerable US families. But in a process that has, as of March 19, dropped 11.19 million people, including 4.61 million children, many former beneficiaries may not know they’re losing coverage or that they may be eligible to get it back.
Utah at this point has the highest rate of “procedural” terminations, according to a state-by-state analysis by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, which used national data reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In Utah, 94%…
The newly-introduced maternity insurance plans are reshaping the way individuals approach family planning and financial security. Traditionally, maternity coverage comes with substantial waiting periods, often spanning across two years.
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However, with the advent of innovative insurance schemes, these barriers are rapidly diminishing.
The latest offerings in maternity insurance not only slash the waiting period to nine months but also introduce a revolutionary concept — the transferability of waiting periods to spouses.
This means that individuals who have fulfilled their waiting period can pass on this benefit to their partners, allowing for immediate coverage from day one of maternity insurance…
Rachana Pradhan, Reporter, KFF Health News:
Absolutely, John. And I will say that, in particular, talking to clinicians, like physicians and nurse practitioners and other medical clinicians who treat patients in these hospitals, really were the ones that shared incredible stories with us.
One in particular involved a nurse midwife who spoke with me who used to work, doing deliveries at a Catholic hospital in Maryland, she encountered a woman who showed up at this hospital because her water had broken before her fetus was viable, so the baby would not survive outside of the womb.
And what she told…
New research points to eight healthy lifestyle habits that could add years to your life.
In a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, researchers found that men who had adopted all eight habits by middle age lived 24 years longer than men whose lifestyle included few or none of the habits. Women’s life expectancy increases by 23 years for those who have adopted the eight habits compared with women who have not.
The study was based on data from nearly 720,000 US veterans 40 and older, which is considered a nationally representative sample. Described…
Moderate exercise and positive social relationships are two of the habits associated with longer lives
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People who adopt eight healthy habits by the age of 40 may live about two decades longer than those who don’t. The effect is lower but still significant for people who have these eight habits by the time they are 60 years old.
Xuan-Mai Nguyen at the VA Boston Healthcare System and her colleagues collected data on physical activity, diet, sleep, mental health, relationships and alcohol use from a group of more than 700,000 US veterans between 40 and 99 years old. Participants…