GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Monday refused to sign a bill overhauling the state’s public health system, instead returning it to the Legislature with an amendment. The intention of the bill had been to introduce state funding and state standards into a system that has until now been controlled entirely by local governments. Baker, worried about […]
Health
Posted inPolitics
Harris calls Mass. a model on abortion rights
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS STANDS as a “model” that other states should follow to protect access to abortions and other reproductive health care, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a visit to the Bay State on Thursday. Offering praise both for the Democrats who crafted a substantial reproductive care bill and for Republican Gov. […]
Posted inHealth, State Government
With time short, lawmakers seek to reshape local public health
THE LEGISLATURE is poised to dramatically reshape Massachusetts’ local public health landscape, after the COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted just how inadequate it is. “I’ve been doing this work for almost 25 years and it’s just astounding to me the opportunity that we’re being presented with here, and the fact that the Legislature really understands the importance […]
Posted inOpinion
Period poverty is a reproductive justice issue
IT ISN’T JUST abortion: period poverty is a reproductive justice issue. In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, people are looking to state legislatures to further protect (or restrict) abortion access. While protecting the right to health care, privacy, and individual liberty is essential, lawmakers have to do more than enshrine […]
Posted inHealth, Health Care, Opinion
We need to bring civility back to science and the COVID debate
IT HAS BEEN a year since we learned the news of an outbreak of breakthrough COVID-19 infections in vaccinated individuals who attended Fourth of July festivities in Provincetown. For me as a physician and health care epidemiologist, that date marks a turning point in the pandemic. The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was […]
Posted inOpinion
Your gas stove is dangerous to your health
THERE ARE ABOUT 43 million gas stoves in the United States. We don’t typically think of them as harmful to our children, communities, and environment, but a growing body of evidence shows we should. In January, groundbreaking research from Stanford showed that gas stoves release concerning levels of indoor air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides […]
Posted inOpinion
The case for reshaping public health
AS THE PRESIDENT of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, I spend a lot of time considering ways to reduce health care costs. In my opinion, the best way to reduce health care costs is not to incur them at all. A well-functioning public health system can be an effective tool for reducing healthcare costs, improving the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Why do we accept asthma with our ‘natural’ gas?
TAKE A DEEP breath. And exhale. Most of us don’t think about breathing. But that is not the case for one in eight children in the Commonwealth who have asthma. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, Boston and Springfield are in the top 20 so-called “asthma capitals” in the US. Asthma is one of […]
Posted inHealth Care
Speaker Mariano says health care regulation needs updates
IT”S BEEN A DECADE since the Legislature revamped the way the state regulates health care, passing legislation establishing the Health Policy Commission and instituting a cost control benchmark. House Speaker Ron Mariano, one of the architects of the 2012 law, said on The Codcast that much has changed over the last 10 years and the […]
Posted inHealth, Health Care, Race/Racism
Why Black women die from childbirth twice as often as white women
WHEN NNEKA HALL was pregnant with her third child, she had a symptom of preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication, but her doctor never caught it. Hall felt her daughter hiccuping and worried something was wrong, but the doctor told her she was having a recurrence of depression because of separating from her husband. “My child […]