Category: Health
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Walsh Explores Mass Litigation Against Pharmaceutical Companies for Role in Opioid Crisis
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Monday, Jan. 22 that his office is considering mass tort litigation against several pharmaceutical companies for their role in the ongoing opioid crisis affecting the city and the United States as a whole. The potential move follows the lead of other Massachusetts municipalities — such as Quincy and Greenfield —…
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Sen. Warren Visits Roxbury Health Center, Vows to Fight for Health Insurance for Low-Income People and Kids
File photo Board members, health providers and staff members at The Dimock Center in Roxbury shared their concerns with Senator Elizabeth Warren during a roundtable discussion centered on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Community Health Center Fund in early January. Warren, nationally known for her progressive views, was greeted by a round…
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Healthcare Advocates Slam Proposed Insurance Rule
The federal Department of Labor is proposing a rule that critics say would allow the sale of what some call “junk” health insurance. Published in the Federal Register last week, the rule would loosen restrictions on Association Health Plans, offered by professional groups or other associations to their members. The Labor Department said the purpose…
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Grant allows BPS to join alliance to serve better food to students
School lunches in Boston may change for the better after Boston Public Schools (BPS) joined several of the largest school districts in the country last month as a member of the Urban School Food Alliance. The alliance, formed in 2012, aims to increase the quality of food at schools while keeping costs down, according to…
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Triage Tool Uses Health Care Info to House Homeless With Better Support Systems
Mathematica Policy Research released a study demonstrating that a triage assessment tool used by the Massachusetts Shelter and Housing Alliance (MHSA) can successfully predict the emergency resource utilization of chronically homeless individuals. The MHSA partners with organizations and service providers in the state to place chronically homeless people in housing with appropriate supportive services. Since…
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Bay State Takes a Step Toward Single Payer
State senators have approved an amendment to a bill that could help pave the way to a single-payer health-care system in Massachusetts. The amendment, now attached to a larger health-care reform bill in the legislature, directs the state’s nonpartisan Health Policy Commission to compare three years of actual health care costs in the state to…
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Baker Administration Battles Opioid Epidemic With Funding and Legislation
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced significant measures to provide recovery services and increase access to health care for those struggling with opioid addiction in the Bay State. Baker, a member of the Trump administration’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, is providing up to $30 million annually to expand residential recovery…
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It isn’t True that Hunger Doesn’t Discriminate — It Does
In a world where only 8 individuals – all of them men—possess as much as half of all the planet’s wealth, and it will take women 170 years to be paid as men are, inequality appears to be a key feature of the current economic model. Now a new study reveals that there is also…
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New Boston Initiative Aims to Help People in Recovery Succeed
On Sept. 21, Mayor Marty Walsh and the Boston Office of Recovery Services announced the launch of the Personal Advancement for Individuals in Recovery (PAIR) initiative. It’s a pilot program that tackles housing, education, and employment by granting money to individuals who are in early recovery and looking to shape up their life from substance…