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Maternity care deserts are growing
Caitlin Owens, Axios, Sept. 11
A new report found that access to maternal care in the United States is getting worse. According to the study, half of the nation’s counties don’t have a hospital that provides obstetric care and more than a third lack a single obstetric clinician. America’s maternal mortality rate is more than double that of some other high-income countries. The report found that counties with no obstetric care are disproportionately likely to be rural. In 2021 and 2022, at least 107 obstetric units around the country closed, often because of low birth volume, low reimbursement rates from insurers and staff shortages.
Doctors give Black women unneeded C-sections to fill operating rooms, study suggests
Sarah Kliff, The New York Times, Sept. 10
Healthy Black women with low risk factors are more likely to get unnecessary cesarean sections than white women. A new study found that the surgeries on Black patients were more likely to happen when hospitals had no scheduled C-sections. Researchers suggested that racial bias and financial incentives could play a role in doctors’ decisions. “Physicians may have certain beliefs about Black women,” said Janet Currie, a co-author of the study. “They might not be listening to Black women as much, or be more afraid that something will go wrong.” Unneeded C-sections can put those women at risk of complications.
Upending a longstanding paradigm, cardiologists embrace ZIP codes, not race, to predict heart risk
Katie Palmer, STAT News, Sept. 6
Race-based calculators are used by doctors to predict patients’ risk for certain conditions. However, there has been a push to move away from using race as a factor, as critics worry it may harm Black patients more than help them. Research has suggested that social determinants of health can account for up to 80% of a patient’s health outcomes. The American Heart Association’s new calculator to assess risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure takes into account many more factors including nutritional status and access to education.
Cost of CT health plans to rise again in 2025
Jenna Carlesso, The Connecticut Mirror, Sept. 9
Connecticut residents can expect to pay an average of 5.9% more for individual health plans sold on and off the state’s Affordable Care Act Exchange next year. Small group policies will go up by an average of 7.8%. The increases are less than insurers had requested, but advocates and officials argue that they are still far higher than Connecticut’s health care cost growth benchmark. “Rates for these markets are the canaries in the coal mine — these rising rates mark the higher costs for health insurance for everyone across all markets. These rates are indicative of a problem we all struggle with — affording care we need,” said Rosana Ferraro, program lead for health justice policy and advocacy for the Universal Health Foundation of Connecticut.