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Here’s the biggest reason why CT residents don’t go to the doctor
Renata Daou, The Connecticut Mirror, Dec. 13
A new survey found that about 28% of Connecticut adults delayed or postponed medical care in the past year. The top reason was being too busy with work or other commitments. The other reasons included being worried about the cost, not believing the problem was serious enough, or not being able to get an appointment soon enough. The DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey seeks to provide information about Connecticut that is not available through other data sources. It found that among adults who delayed care, the groups who most often cited being too busy are higher earners and young adults.
‘Little evidence’ managed care would reduce CT Medicaid costs, report finds
Katy Golvala, The Connecticut Mirror, Dec. 11
A report meant to explore the possibility of returning Connecticut’s Medicaid program to a managed care model found that it likely would not save the state money. The report, led by independent consultants, found that Connecticut’s current Medicaid program has lower costs and similar levels of access when compared to peer states. The proposal to return to a managed care model was met with opposition from many legislators and advocates who argued it would increase cost and reduce access. Connecticut currently uses what’s known as a managed fee-for-service model, in which the state pays providers directly for services delivered to Medicaid beneficiaries.
Health protections for migrant children in custody are set to expire
Emily Baumgaertner, The New York Times, Dec. 13
A court-ordered system for protecting the health of children detained at the southern border is set to expire nine days after Donald Trump takes office. The system requires agents to provide children with access to emergency care and basic hygiene items, forbids them from separating children from their parents for extended periods of time, and assigned an independent pediatrician to visit the facilities and work with staff members to improve them. Medical experts worry that with the settlement expiring and the monitoring role set to disappear, conditions could worsen under an administration far less friendly to immigrants.
Fewer than half of Latinos in the U.S. have adequate health insurance coverage
Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, Dec. 17
Latinos in the United States are less likely to have adequate health insurance than Americans overall, according to a new survey. It found that 56% of working-age adults overall have health insurance for the whole year and are not underinsured, compared to only 46% of Latinos. According to the study, the difference, in part, is connected to the industries Latinos in the U.S. overwhelmingly work in, such as agriculture and the service industry, which do not commonly offer employer-based health insurance. The disparity could also be because two of the 10 states that have yet to expand Medicaid — Texas and Florida — have large Latino populations.
Why Black women are being told to speak up during and after childbirth
Elizabeth Cohen, The Washington Post, Dec. 15
Thirty minutes after giving birth to her daughter, Ariel Freeman felt a sudden gush of blood. She called out for a nurse who told her not to worry. After another gush of blood 20 minutes later, she once again was dismissed. A voice in her head told her to be louder. It was the voice of Tishania Bobb, a registered nurse who met with her regularly as part of a support program for first-time moms and taught her the importance of speaking up. That ended up saving her life, resulting in an emergency surgery for a postpartum hemorrhage, a leading cause of maternal death. While advocacy alone won’t solve the Black maternal mortality crisis, many doulas, midwives, nurses and obstetricians are explicitly preparing Black women to speak up loudly for themselves in the delivery room.