Health Care

At the end of May, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy stunned healthcare advocates when he vetoed an important bill that would have required insurance companies to provide data about how much substance abuse coverage and related mental health care they are actually providing Connecticut residents. Considering that the cost of appropriate substance abuse treatment and mental health services is far cheaper and more effective than dealing with the resulting violence and incarceration that often results from inadequate treatment, the bill was extremely appropriate.

Under pressure from Congress, celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday offered to help "drain the swamp" of unscrupulous marketers using his name to peddle so-called miracle pills and cure-alls to millions of Americans desperate to lose weight. Oz appeared before the Senate's consumer protection panel and was scolded by Chairman Claire McCaskill for claims he made about weight-loss aids on his TV show.

To grasp Medicare's staggering bill for ambulance rides in New Jersey, just visit the busy parking lot of the DaVita St. Joseph's dialysis clinic in the town of Paterson. More than 20 ambulances and a handful of wheelchair vans were parked outside on a recent morning there. Emergency medical technicians wheeled patients in and out on stretchers. As soon as one ambulance departed, another took its place. For each one-way ride, Medicare pays ambulance companies nearly $200, plus $6 a mile.

After linking the Isla Vista shooting to gay marriage, now the Family Research Council is somehow trying to use the incident to criticize Obamacare.

In an unusual courtroom interaction, Wisconsin Judge William Conley openly questioned a witness' testimony. The witness, a doctor, was advocating for the more stringent abortion clinic restrictions just passed in the state, but stayed by Conley until the conclusion of the case.

Alabama Governor Bentley has persisted in failing to offer hope for the uninsured poor in Alabama, through a Medicaid Expansion or otherwise. Behind the scenes, various insiders are passing rumors not to worry — he really will do it, just after the primary. Or after the general election.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett's refusal to expand Medicaid is literally imperiling thousands by denying them access to health care. And as memorial day approaches, there's one demographic we should pay special attention to: our nation's veterans. If anybody deserves care, it's the men and women who've fought for this country.

Alabama's new TRAP (Targeted Restrictions on Abortion Providers) law was always a bad idea – bad for women who now can't find a clinic in the state, and bad for Alabama women's health overall. And it was almost a pleasure seeing Alabama's Solicitor General struggle to defend the indefensible in court against an expert witness.

The death panels are real and they’ve been found! Back in 2009 when the healthcare debate was at its most crazy, Republicans warned us that once Obamacare was passed, government officials would get to ration health care, and as a result, have control over the life and death of millions of Americans. They called the group of bureaucrats who supposedly got to make these decisions “death panels.”

Police work is incredibly stressful. Whether from the day to day pressure, or from witnessing horrific events and their aftermath – like the Sandy Hook school shooting – officers are struggling with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. But commissioners and local governments strapped for cash are refusing to provide treatment.