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Two committees of the House of Representatives today began consideration of the American Health Care Act, the Republican mechanism to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The process will not in fact eliminate the ACA. The current action takes place under complex rules in the House and Senate limited to spending and revenue. This...   read more

Abby Goodnaugh, Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan New York Times March 8, 2017   WASHINGTON — Influential groups representing hospitals and nurses came out on Wednesday against a Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, joining doctors and the retirees’ lobby to warn that it would lead to a rise in the...   read more

The Checkup By PERRI KLASS, M.D. New York Times FEB. 13, 2017 The hardest questions pediatricians must routinely ask teenagers at checkups are those about depression and suicide. But they aren’t optional; we have to ask them, every time. From 2005 to 2014, the prevalence of depression — that is, the chance of having a...   read more

Richard A. Friedman New York Times FEB. 13, 2017   Psychedelics, the fabled enlightenment drugs of the ’60s, are making a comeback — this time as medical treatment. A recent study claimed that psilocybin, a mushroom-derived hallucinogenic, relieves anxiety and depression in people with life-threatening cancer. Anecdotal reports have said similar things about so-called microdoses...   read more

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and ABBY GOODNOUGH New York Times Feb. 10, 2017   MANCHESTER, N.H. — Chad Diaz began using heroin when he was 12. Now 36 and newly covered by Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, he is on Suboxone, a substitute opioid that eases withdrawal symptoms and cravings, and he is slowly...   read more

By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS New York Times FEB. 2, 2017   During her pregnancy, she never drank alcohol or had a cigarette. But nearly every day, Stacey, then 24, smoked marijuana. With her fiancé’s blessing, she began taking a few puffs in her first trimester to quell morning sickness before going to work at a...   read more

Experts say you shouldn't take no for an answer. Many denied insurance claims are reversed on appeal. (Getty Images) David Lazarus January 17, 2017 Los Angeles Times   Insurance companies are playing the odds, patient advocates say. They’re counting on people not having the stamina to challenge every denied claim, even when there’s a valid...   read more

David Lazarus January 13, 2017 Los Angeles Times   One focus of the planned repeal of Obamacare is maintaining coverage for people with preexisting conditions. Republican lawmakers say the current law’s safeguards won’t change, but they have yet to explain how they’ll accomplish this without also keeping the mandate that everyone buy insurance. What isn’t...   read more