Category Archives: Health policy

Anthem Reverses Course on Anesthesia Time Limits

Posted on 01/04/2025 by alicia

December 6, 2024 The nation’s second-largest health insurer, Anthem, has rescinded a controversial policy to pay for anesthesia only up to a certain time limit that sparked outrage among anesthesiology professionals and state officials. The company announced November 1 it would deny claims for … Continue reading →

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Gun Violence Researchers Are Making Up for 20 Years of Lost Time

Posted on 01/04/2025 by alicia

August 4, 2021 Depending on who you ask, the end of a 2-decade dry spell in federal funding for gun violence research is a windfall or a pittance. Either way, experts in the field say that renewed funding is especially … Continue reading →

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Psychologists and Psychotropic Prescribing: An Old Debate Heats Up

Posted on 01/04/2025 by alicia

December 13, 2024 Earlier this year, Utah became the seventh state to allow psychologists with the proper training to prescribe psychotropic medications, giving supporters reason to hope that more states might support expanding this scope of practice. However, the American … Continue reading →

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Should the FDA Reconsider Antidepressant Boxed Warnings?

Posted on 01/04/2025 by alicia

December 23, 2024 For almost two decades, antidepressants have carried boxed warnings linking the medications to an increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young people. Paradoxically, and for almost as long, evidence suggests these warnings may have led … Continue reading →

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Cancer Moonshot Effort Unveils Dozens of Initiatives to Speed Research

Posted on 06/29/2016 by alicia

WASHINGTON, DC — US federal officials have unveiled a dozen new initiatives designed to accelerate cancer research, speed new therapies to patients, foster data sharing, and simplify participation in clinical trials, all part of the formal liftoff of the Cancer … Continue reading →

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Califf Breezes Through Nomination Hearing for FDA Chief

Posted on 11/18/2015 by alicia

WASHINGTON — Most members of a Senate committee had few reservations yesterday about Robert Califf’s qualifications to be the next commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “You come here today with impressive qualifications,” said Senate Health, Education, … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Dubious on Right to Sue Over Low Medicaid Fees

Posted on 01/20/2015 by alicia

Washington, DC — Several US Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism that physicians have the right to sue if they believe states have set Medicaid rates too low. The Justices were responding to oral arguments held today in Armstrong v Exceptional … Continue reading →

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To Screen, or Not to Screen

Posted on 12/04/2007 by alicia

You walk into the room, but you can’t remember why. You’ve forgotten where you left your keys. Lapses like that seem to be happening more often. The beginnings of Alzheimer’s disease? Maybe, maybe not. Continue reading →

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Equal Coverage For Mental Health?

Posted on 11/06/2007 by alicia

Q Why are my mental health benefits less generous than those that my insurance policy provides for other conditions?

A When mental health coverage was first added to benefits packages a few decades ago, there was still a persistent belief that a condition like depression was not as real as heart disease or cancer. There also were few medications or other therapies that offered significant improvement. Many employers did not offer rich coverage because they assumed the government would eventually pay for treatment of serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disease. Continue reading →

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Uninsured? You’re Not Alone

Posted on 10/17/2007 by alicia

Barbra Lancelot has a master’s in education and a long career working with special-needs children. Until recently, she also had a good health insurance plan and prescription drug coverage, provided by her employer. But late last year, the 58-year-old College Park resident lost her job. Coverage was extended to her under COBRA, the law that guarantees temporary continuance of employer-provided insurance but requires the worker to pay the full premium. Continue reading →

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