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134 unhoused people have died in Connecticut this year. Here are some of their stories.
Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Jordan Fenster, Sandra Diamond Fox, Kaitlin Keane, Jesse Leavenworth, Brian Lockhart, Jessica Simms and Joseph Tucci, CT Insider, Nov. 7
Since the start of the year, at least 134 unhoused people in Connecticut have died. Only two lived long enough to reach the state’s average life expectancy and among the youngest is a newborn baby. These deaths are a sobering reminder of the impacts of unstable housing. Some of the people died from the cold, being hit by vehicles, and by suicide. Dr. Caitlin Ryus, an emergency room doctor at Yale New Haven Hospital, recalls one homeless patient telling her, “‘I can’t afford to exist. I want to die.’” The stories of some of the people who lost their lives are highlighted in this part of a series on homelessness in Connecticut.
Cancer killed his parents. He’s facing the same disease alone — and unhoused.
Orion Rummler, The 19th, Oct. 30
For the past year, Marcus Ford, a 61-year-old living in Chicago, has been homeless while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. Ford, like other Black men around the country, lives with a higher risk of dying from cancer due to factors out of his control. Black Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial or ethnic group for most cancers. Both of Ford’s parents died from cancer before 55 years old. Black men’s mortality rates for prostate cancer are double that of white men, and they have less access to quality treatment. His lack of stable housing puts Ford at an even higher risk; homeless patients have increased rates of cancer deaths.
Legal immigrants face loss of Obamacare help, threatening insurance markets
Robert King and Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico, Nov. 10
Some Americans could see triple-digit premium hikes if enhanced Obamacare subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of this year. Hundreds of thousands of legal, taxpaying immigrants are those who would feel the full brunt of those increases. A provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act strips all Obamacare subsidies from low-income, lawfully present immigrants. The Congressional Budget Office estimates 300,000 people will lose coverage next year because they can’t afford it, and nearly 1 million by 2034. Immigrant advocates worry the loss will be even more significant, and predict entire families could lose access, including U.S. citizen spouses and children.
Medicaid cuts threaten Connecticut’s working disabled residents: ‘I need my job to survive’
Cris Villalonga-Vivoni, The Hour, Nov. 6
More than a decade after being discharged from Connecticut Valley Hospital, Karen Healy is living independently and working part-time. She receives mental health care and medications through MED-Connect, a program that offers Medicaid coverage to employed people with disabilities. However, that is now at risk as optional coverage programs like MED-Connect could soon face significant reductions when Federal changes to Medicaid take effect over the next few years. “A lot of my meds are very expensive, and I need them to survive. I need them. I need my job to survive, to live on. It keeps me in a good spot in my life,” Healy said.
A grave condition caused by C-sections is on the rise
Sarah Kliff and Bianca Pallaro, The New York Times, Nov. 6
Placenta accreta, a dangerous complication where the placenta fuses to scar tissue from previous C-sections, is on the rise. It used to be very rare, affecting 1 in 4,000 pregnancies in the 1970s. But as C-sections have become more common, so has the complication. While its prevalence has been hard to pin down, one report found the rate as high as 1 in 272 deliveries. Researchers believe accreta is a major cause of maternal deaths, though more research is needed. “It is the single most important consequence of unnecessary cesarean sections,” said Dr. Robert M. Silver, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of Utah.