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Some Social Security beneficiaries say the government is clawing back benefits after they received covid stimulus payments that were supposed to be exempt from asset limits.
A rise in cases of Vibrio vulnificus and its spread northward have heightened concern about the bacterium, which can cause human tissue to rot and skin to decay. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to make more doctors aware of the dangerous pathogen.
Lawmakers are faulting the Social Security Administration for issuing billions of dollars of payments that beneficiaries weren鈥檛 entitled to receive 鈥 and then demanding the money back 鈥 in the wake of an investigation by 吃瓜不打烊 and Cox Media Group.
Ballad Health, the only hospital system across a large swath of Tennessee and Virginia, has fallen short of quality-of-care and charity care obligations 鈥 even as it鈥檚 sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills.
Parents, educators, and elected officials agree that investing in school-based prevention efforts could help curb the rising rate of youth drug overdoses. The well-known D.A.R.E. program is one likely choice, but its effectiveness is in question.
吃瓜不打烊 and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Studies suggest official numbers vastly underestimate heat-related injuries and illness on the job. To institute protections, the government must calculate their cost 鈥 and the cost of inaction.
The medical dangers of heat are real. But people often ignore public heat alerts or don't realize how vulnerable they are. A new alert system prompts clinicians to talk about heat with patients.
To contain the opioid crisis, health and law enforcement agencies have turned to technology to monitor doctor and patient prescription data. Experts have raised questions about how these systems work and worry about their accuracy and potential biases. Some patients and doctors say they鈥檙e being unfairly targeted.
Prior authorization is a common tool used by health insurers for many tests, procedures, and prescriptions. Frustrated by the process, patients and doctors have turned to social media to publicly shame insurance companies and elevate their denials for further review.
Mandy Cohen, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earned praise for her leadership and communication as the face of North Carolina鈥檚 response to covid-19. People in the state鈥檚 most vulnerable communities tell a more complicated story.
No local hospital and anemic ambulance services mean residents in rural Pickens County, Alabama, are thrown into perilous situations when they have medical emergencies. It鈥檚 a kind of medical care roulette that has become a fact of life for rural Americans who live in ambulance deserts.
An analysis of court records by the state treasurer and Duke researchers finds Atrium Health, originally a public hospital system, accounted for almost a third of the legal actions against North Carolina patients over roughly five years.
Within two years of North Carolina鈥檚 public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients鈥 payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, 吃瓜不打烊 is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
As politicians bash privately run hospitals for their aggressive debt collection tactics, consumer advocates say one North Carolina family鈥檚 six-figure medical bill is an example of how state attorneys general and state-operated hospitals also can harm patients financially.
Nonprofit hospitals avoid paying taxes if they provide community benefits such as charity care. More states are examining that trade-off, scrutinizing the extent of hospitals鈥 spending on their communities.
The first FDA-authorized cigarettes with 95% less nicotine than traditional smokes will go on sale in California, Florida, and Texas starting in early July. Anti-smoking groups oppose greenlighting just one plant biotech鈥檚 products and instead urge federal regulators to set a low-nicotine standard for the entire industry.
吃瓜不打烊 obtained documents showing the exact dollar amounts 鈥 down to the cent 鈥 that local governments have been allocated in 2022 and 2023 to battle the ongoing opioid crisis.
A nationwide decline in foster home spots has led to dire situations in some rural areas, including northeastern Nevada, where a state social worker has been pleading with community leaders to help address a shortage that left officials housing children in casino hotels.
Homeless people are being fraudulently enrolled in health plans on the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 marketplace, induced with cash payments from insurance agents and brokers. Those who sign up for an ACA plan are disqualified from other forms of free and low-cost care and risk disruption in treatment.
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