In Chronic Pain, This Teenager 鈥楥ould Barely Do Anything.鈥 Insurer Wouldn鈥檛 Cover Surgery.
An Alabama teen was told he needed surgery for debilitating hip pain. But his family鈥檚 insurer denied coverage for the procedure, which lacked a medical billing code. Expected to pay more than $7,000, his father charged it to credit cards.
She Was Accused of Murder After Losing Her Pregnancy. SC Woman Now Tells Her Story.
Amari Marsh, now 23, was a student at South Carolina State University when she lost her pregnancy in 2023. She was charged with murder and faced at least 20 years in prison. A grand jury cleared her in August. Now she鈥檚 sharing her story.
Most Black Hospitals Across the South Closed Long Ago. Their Impact Endures.
Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, was established to exclusively admit Black patients during a time when Jim Crow laws barred them from accessing the same health care facilities as white patients. Its closure underscores how hundreds of Black hospitals in the U.S. fell casualty to social progress.
Treating the Shortage of Black Doctors
A few months ago, I visited Jackson, Miss., to attend African American Visit Day at the University of Mississippi鈥檚 School of Medicine. High school and college students from across the state spent time that Saturday morning with Black medical students and administrators, finding out what they needed to do to become a doctor. The annual […]
Mississippi Lacks Black Doctors, Even as Lawmakers Increasingly Target Diversity Programs
Administrators at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine are trying to recruit more Black students 鈥 and more Hispanic and Choctaw Nation students, for that matter. But they face several obstacles, including a recent swell of Republican opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
The South Can Be a Dangerous Place To Be Black and Pregnant
In much of the developed world, dying while pregnant or delivering a child is practically unknown. In Australia, for example, there were just 3 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2021. But that鈥檚 not the case in the American South. And especially not for Black women. In South Carolina, Black women were more […]
An NIH Genetics Study Targets a Long-Standing Challenge: Diversity
In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced a precision medicine initiative that would later be known as the All of Us program. The research, now well underway at the National Institutes of Health, aims to analyze the DNA of at least 1 million people across the United States to build a diverse health database. The key word there is 鈥渄iverse.鈥 So […]
Genetics Studies Have a Diversity Problem That Researchers Struggle To Fix
Researchers in Charleston, South Carolina, are trying to build a DNA database of 100,000 people to better understand how genetics affects health risks. But they鈥檙e struggling to recruit enough Black participants.
Hist贸ricamente, las enfermedades vinculadas al abuso del alcohol han afectado m谩s a los hombres. Pero datos actuales de los Centros para el Control y Prevenci贸n de Enfermedades (CDC) muestran que las tasas de muerte por esta causa est谩n aumentando m谩s r谩pido entre las mujeres que entre los hombres.
More Women Are Drinking Themselves Sick. The Biden Administration Is Concerned.
Historically, alcohol use disorder has disproportionately affected men. But targeted advertising and changes in societal norms over the past 50 years have led to an upsurge in alcohol-related diseases and deaths among women. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very taboo topic,鈥 one expert said.
GOP-Led States Expand Crackdowns on Transgender Care
South Carolina鈥檚 legislature is poised to pass a bill prohibiting doctors from offering some health-care services to transgender minors 鈥 part of a new wave of anti-trans legislation from Republican-led states. The South Carolina bill, which passed the state House of Representatives in January and is under consideration in the Senate, would bar health-care providers […]
Lawsuits Claim South Carolina Kids Underwent Unnecessary Genital Exams During Abuse Investigations
Lawsuits allege that several children under 18 in South Carolina have undergone examinations of their private parts during child abuse investigations 鈥 even when there were no allegations of sexual abuse. There鈥檚 a growing consensus in medicine that genital exams can be embarrassing, uncomfortable, and even traumatic.
Biden Cracks Down on Prior Authorization 鈥 But There Are Limits
More than a year after it was initially proposed, the Biden administration announced a final rule yesterday that will change how insurers in federal programs such as Medicare Advantage use prior authorization 鈥 a long-standing system that prevents many patients from accessing doctor-recommended care. 鈥淲hen a doctor says a patient needs a procedure, it is […]
What Would a Nikki Haley Presidency Look Like for Health Care?
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley鈥檚 tenure in the Palmetto State 鈥 which overlapped with several tumultuous years of health care reform 鈥 and her recent comments offer clues to how her presidency might affect national health care policy.
Will CMS Crack Down on Prior Authorization?
There鈥檚 the Idaho doctor whose infant daughter developed a brain tumor. A woman in Southern California who waited months for an MRI before dying in the hospital. And a North Carolina patient who has trigeminal neuralgia 鈥 a condition so painful it鈥檚 commonly called the 鈥渟uicide disease.鈥 They all have something in common, aside from […]
Woman Petitions Health Insurer After Company Approves 鈥 Then Rejects 鈥 Her Infusions
Even people with good insurance aren’t guaranteed affordable care, as this 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News follow-up to one patient鈥檚 saga shows.
Cancer Patients Face Frightening Delays in Treatment Approvals
Delaying cancer treatment can be deadly 鈥 which makes the roadblock-riddled process that health insurers use to approve or deny care particularly daunting for oncology patients.
Being Black and Pregnant in the Deep South Can Be a Dangerous Combination
Being Black has always been dangerous for pregnant women and infants in the South. And researchers say things are continuing to move in the wrong direction.
Doctors and Patients Try to Shame Insurers Online to Reverse Prior Authorization Denials
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.
New Charleston Museum Nods to Historical Roots of US Health Disparities
The $120 million International African American Museum that opened this week in Charleston, South Carolina, allows visitors to step back in history at Gadsden鈥檚 Wharf, where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans arrived in America, the genesis of generations of health disparities.
