Two new studies highlight the heavy impact that state decisions not to expand Medicaid under the federal healthcare reform law will have on low-income Americans and community health centers that serve them.
Across the country, about 5.2 million low-income uninsured adults across the country will remain uninsured in 2014 because they fall into a coverage gap in the 25 states that so far have not expanded Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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California supporters of capping damages in medical malpractice lawsuits have gained an unexpected ally—Planned Parenthood. And that organization is coming under fire for its position on the issue.
Kathy Kneer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said the state's pain-and-suffering cap has helped protect women's access to obstetricians. “To the extent we have a stable obstetrician provider pool, there is evidence it is working,” she said.
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Veteran investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald has an important and scathing commentary in the new issue of Vanity Fair on the issue of how new state restrictions in Texas and other states on centers providing abortion and other women's health services are likely to affect diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients.
What prompted Eichenwald to write the piece was that his wife, Theresa, a physician, recently was diagnosed with the disease, just a few weeks after discovering a breast lump. Eichenwald contrasts his wife's speedy diagnosis and treatment with the long delays faced by low-income and uninsured women associated with greater likelihood of death. He names and blames anti-abortion lawmakers in his home state of Texas for passing legislation that will shut down a number of centers where low-income and uninsured women receive screening and referrals for breast cancer.
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