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As pandemic-era Medicaid provisions lapse, millions approach a coverage cliff
Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News, Feb. 2
States are preparing to remove millions of people from Medicaid as protections put in place early in the COVID-19 pandemic expire. States are facing steep challenges: making sure they don’t disenroll people who still qualify for Medicaid and connecting the rest to other sources of coverage. It is already clear that some states are doing much more than others to keep people insured.
Living with the highway: Hartford residents navigate the divide caused by Connecticut’s urban highways
Emily DiSalvo and Taylor Johnston, CT Insider, Feb. 4
From 1934 to today, Hartford has changed significantly. One of the most glaring changes was the addition of the interstate highway. The intentional placement of the highway, which overlaps with the redlined areas of Hartford, is no secret to public officials and residents. The highway physically divides the city, and data indicates that income, demographics, and health outcomes vary wildly from neighborhood to neighborhood – another indication of a city divided.
YNHHS tackles racial bias in medical technology with new office
Kayla Yup, Yale Daily News, Feb. 1
Misdiagnoses, missed diagnoses, and exclusion from clinical treatments and trials – the consequences of using racially biased medical tools can be fatal. Yale New Haven Health System’s Office of Health Equity and Community Impact, launched in October of 2021, aims to dismantle the false theory of “racial biology,” which assumes that a person’s race dictates their genetics.
One doctor’s crusade to improve health literacy
Ryan Levi, Tradeoffs, Feb. 2
Over her decades in government, academia, and hospital medicine, Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick has witnessed the consequences of people in her community not understanding or trusting their health care provider. Fitzpatrick has long believed those disparities could be shrunk if the health care community did a better job of explaining health information in simple terms and engaging trusted messengers – in other words, sending better messages from better messengers.
‘They were his best shot. And they failed to help’: Why did EMS workers neglect Tyre Nichols?
Marion Renault, STAT, Feb. 6
Tyre Nichols – who was recently murdered by Memphis police – did not receive any of the appropriate medical care from emergency medical technicians. In the past decade, research has begun to document how social factors such as race can affect the quality and nature of emergency medical care. Other experts say that Nichols’ death is yet another example of how EMS and law enforcement are deeply intertwined.