Members of Congress and the Mine Safety & Health Administration respond to an investigative series on the resurgence of black lung disease among miners; OSHA cracks down on railroad employers who retaliate against whistleblowing employees, and relies on education rather than an emergency standard to address heat stress; and gunmen in Pakistan attack the vehicle of a doctor involved in a polio vaccination campaign.
Researchers have linked the increase in antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections to the use of antibiotics in livestock. The counterargument that the resistance could have originated in humans in the first place misses the point.
Stacey Singer of The Palm Beach Post used Florida’s sunshine law to request info on the state’s extensive tuberculosis outbreak, which hadn’t been explained to the public.
Nurses’ demanding jobs often leave them injured, and nurses working injured increases the risk of medication mistakes; many farmworkers never report pesticide-related ailments; and the rate of uninsurance is high among federal firefighters.
President Johnson may not have intended to sign the Freedom of Information Act on Independence Day, but July 4th is a fitting birthday for a law that helps citizens know what their government is doing and hold it accountable.
Several more experts have addressed the Supreme Court’s decision to make the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion optional for states.
A special edition of Health Wonk Review collects several different perspectives on the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act decision.
Affordable Care Act
Supreme Court decision is great for public health – but fate of 16 million poorest uninsured is still unclear
One of the admirable things about the Affordable Care Act is that its greatest benefits go to those who are most disadvantaged under the current system. The Medicaid portion of the Supreme Court’s decision once again leaves the most impoverished uninsured people with uncertain health-insurance prospects.
Environmental Health
30 years after Warren County protests, the struggle for environmental justice continues
Environmental Health News’ “Pollution, Poverty, People of Color” series documents the continued struggle of the environmental justice movement in communities across the country.
As we’re waiting to learn whether the Affordable Care Act will survive the upcoming Supreme Court decision, it’s a good time to remember what’s at stake with the individual mandate. It’s helpful to consider the stories of two states that took different mandate paths in their attempts to make insurance affordable, with very different outcomes.