Health
Health care and insurance costs frequently top the national policy agenda. The cost of health care remains insurmountably high for many people, but the link between poverty and health goes far beyond the cost of insurance. Poverty is both a cause and consequence of health issues. Education, poverty and neighborhood factors have a major impact on health outcomes. Factors like access to healthy food, health care, clean air and safe housing contribute to the connection between health and wealth gaps. Studies have also found that poverty is correlated with higher rates of mental illness and that the stress poverty causes cannot be ignored. The toll that poverty takes on mental and physical health is apparent in the discrepancies in life expectancy based on income level. This section of the Spotlight website gathers the latest research, news and opinion on health and poverty.
Related News
The Courier-Journal, May 05, 2013: Poor Kentuckians lose teeth, endure pain when few care options are available
"More than a quarter of Kentucky seniors - 27 percent, federal figures show - have had all their natural teeth extracted, ahead of only West Virginia and Tennessee. And 53 percent of Kentucky adults have had at least one permanent tooth pulled. A shrinking number of dentists across the state take Medicaid, and more than half of Kentucky adults have no dental insurance. Waits at some safety-net clinics can stretch to half a year, and a mobile dental service run by Louisville's health department recently stopped when its dentist left."
The Sacramento Bee, April 30, 2013: Experts see growing mental health needs among homeless elderly
"With the population growing older, mental health experts warned Monday of a coming tsunami of behavioral health care needs among elderly homeless people."
The Tennessean, March 25, 2013: Votes on school vouchers, TennCare draw near
"Haslam has put together a plan, Senate Bill 196 that would offer vouchers to 5,000 students from low-income families who attend poorly performing schools. But some Senate Republicans have put together a proposal that would give vouchers to twice as many students from families that make nearly twice as much. A showdown on the matter could come as soon as Wednesday."
The New York Times, February 14, 2013: Uphill Road for Plan to Cut Government's Drug Costs
"In just a handful of words in his State of the Union address, President Obama renewed a proposal to lower the amount that the federal government pays for drugs taken by low-income seniors -- a measure that supporters say would save the government more than $150 billion over the next decade. But it faces formidable opposition from Republicans, some Democrats and the powerful pharmaceutical industry, making passage unlikely. In essence, the plan would require drug companies to provide Medicare with discounts like those they now give to Medicaid."
Sun-Sentinel, February 11, 2013: (Editorial) Big changes in long-term care
"The Obama administration last week gave Gov. Rick Scott one of the two waivers he's requested for managing Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the very poor. The waiver affects long-term care for 87,000 low-income seniors and disabled people who now receive nursing home or in-home care under Medicaid. Given that Medicaid consumes about $21 billion of the state's $74 billion budget and that long-term care accounts for about 18 percent of Medicaid's budget we all have a stake in the efficient management of the program's long-term care services for our most frail citizens."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 11, 2013: (Editorial) ADHD drugs bad medicine for poor academic performance?
"Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, a child mental-health services researcher at Washington University and an expert in prescription drug use among low-income children, said there are circumstances in which prescribing medication is a doctor's only recourse to help a child struggling in school.But he added that society should not force doctors into those situations, and should make available other methods to improve school environments and help families and children who are finding it difficult to thrive academically."
Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2012: (Editorial) Medicare: Is 67 the new 65?
"The Supreme Court ruled this year that Congress could tell states to expand Medicaid but it couldn't penalize those that refused. As a result, many states are expected not to extend coverage to 138% of the poverty line or to able-bodied individuals without dependent children. Low-income seniors in those states could still seek heavily subsidized coverage through the state's insurance exchange, but the out-of-pocket costs would be significantly higher -- too high, some advocates for the elderly warn."
The Huffington Post, December 14, 2012: (Blog): Valuing Children and Families: A 21st Century Agenda for America
"For example, in an election where a record number of women were elected to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and women, who constitute a majority of the electorate, voted 55-44 percent in support of President Obama, election eve polls point to a stark reality. Women, by a wide margin, apparently believed the president's policies would be more supportive of women and children than those of Governor Romney."
The Washington Post, December 11, 2012: (Blog) Raising Medicare age could leave hundreds of thousands uninsured
"The CAP report points out that 10 states have publicly declared that they will opt out of the Medicaid expansion, and more are undecided. CAP then found that more than 164,000 seniors live below the poverty line in states that may opt out of the Medicaid expansion, using 2011 data. That means approximately 434,000 seniors could be left without insurance annually by 2021. And this is a conservative estimate - it's based on 2011 data, and the population of seniors will grow significantly over the next decade."