Just seven years ago, “aid in dying” or “assisted suicide,” was illegal throughout the United States with the exception of Oregon. Today, five additional states have passed “death with dignity” bills that allow terminally ill patients to choose to die with the help of their physician. Many praise this legislation for allowing patients who are … Continue reading
Tuesday (November 4) was a big day for the Republican Party, gaining seven seats in the Senate giving them control of both chambers of Congress. In all of the excitement about the momentum change in federal politics, there was a proposition being voted on in California that went relatively unnoticed when it should not have. … Continue reading
President Obama signed the IMPACT Act into law on October 6. The law had overwhelming bipartisan support and will bring increased federal oversight to hospice programs across the country. The legislation mainly addresses how nursing homes, rehab-centers, and home health agencies assess and report data on quality and other measures. However, buried in the new law … Continue reading
Recently, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll to judge the American public’s knowledge and opinion of the Affordable Care Act. Perhaps the most outrageous result from this poll is that, of those individuals uninsured, nearly 9 out of 10 of them did not know that open enrollment begins in November. Almost ninety percent of … Continue reading
The individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act requires nearly all individuals to purchase health insurance. Subsequently, the issue of adequate provider supply comes into question. This is because it is believed that when more individuals have health insurance it is more likely that we will see more individuals using health care services. This is … Continue reading
Last week, medical author Atul Gawande released his fourth book titled Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, discussing the current medical procedures during the end of life. I was lucky enough to attend a discussion Mr. Gawande had on this book, and there was one thing that he said that really stuck … Continue reading
This past week, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that the federal government cannot provide health insurance subsidies in states that did not set up their own health insurance exchanges. This ruling makes it more likely that the Supreme Court will have a hearing on the issue as this is the third ruling issued on … Continue reading
Established in 1906, the Food and Drug Administration’s job is to ensure the protection and promotion of public health. The FDA’s heavily invested power over product regulation comes with an even greater responsibility to safely serve the public. The FDA is under fire for underplaying that responsibility by approving the painkiller Zohydro, which is a pill containing … Continue reading
Recently CVS Health has entered partnerships with 41 different health systems that will connect their minute clinics with the electronic medical records of said health systems. The most recent of these agreements is with MedStar Health, an expansive and high quality medical system centered around the Baltimore and D.C. areas. This agreement between MedStar and … Continue reading
The Affordable Care Act is attempting to bridge the health disparity gap in mental health services of millions of people who were previously uninsured or whose policies did not include mental health coverage before. However, as millions of Americans now gain health coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, the reality of the difficulties … Continue reading
Policy Interns 
You must be logged in to post a comment.