sales pitches are often from biased sources, the choices can be overwhelming and impartial help is not equally available to all

The 67 million Americans eligible for Medicare make an important decision every October: Should they make changes in their Medicare health insurance plans for the next calendar year? The decision…

Cancer costs for Americans with private health insurance rose after the ACA rollout and fell for those with Medicaid

Low-income Americans ages 18 to 64 with cancer saved about US$1,250 per year on treatment within seven years of the 2014 rollout of the Affordable Care Act, according to my…

Immigrant moms feel unsafe and unheard when seeking pregnancy care – here’s how they’d improve Philly’s health care system

Immigrants make up nearly 16% of Philadelphia’s population of 1.6 million, according to a 2024 report from Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew reports this marks the largest percentage since the 1940s,…

Navigating mental health treatment options can be overwhelming – a clinical psychologist explains why it’s worth the effort

The percentage of Americans seeking mental health treatment nearly doubled between 2004 and 2022, with almost a quarter of the population reporting that they saw a mental health care professional…

Hospice care for those with dementia falls far short of meeting people’s needs at the end of life

Jimmy Carter, who chose to forgo aggressive medical care for complications of cancer and frailty in February 2023, recently reached his one-year anniversary since enrolling in hospice care. During this…

Family caregivers face financial burdens, isolation and limited resources − a social worker explains how to improve quality of life for this growing population

Millions of Americans have become informal family caregivers: people who provide family members or friends with unpaid assistance in accomplishing daily tasks such as bathing, eating, transportation and managing medications.…

Most US nursing homes are understaffed, potentially compromising health care for more than a million elderly residents

More than 80% of U.S. nursing homes reported staffing shortages in early 2023. SciLine interviewed Dr. Jasmine Travers, a gerontological nurse practitioner and assistant professor of nursing at New York…

Where the government draws the line for Medicaid coverage leaves out many older Americans who may need help paying for medical and long-term care bills – new research

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Medicaid, which provides low-income Americans with health insurance coverage, currently excludes large numbers of adults over…

More than 1.5 million Americans lost Medicaid coverage in the spring of 2023 due to the end of pandemic policies – and paperwork problems

CC BY-ND At least 1.5 million Americans lost Medicaid coverage in April, May and the first three weeks of June 2023, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that…

What does ending the emergency status of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US mean in practice? 4 questions answered

The COVID-19 pandemic’s public health emergency status in the U.S. expires on May 11, 2023. And on May 5, the World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 public…