Health and Poverty News
"Three of the 19 affected Planned Parenthood programs (northern Colorado, Orange County, Calif., and Waco, Texas) will continue to be funded because they are the only services for low-income women in their communities, Brinker says. The other programs will be funded through the end of the year. 'There will be no gap in services to these low-income women,' she said."
"The Komen foundation, known for its pink ribbon symbol, has collected more than $1.9 billion for breast cancer research and programs. Planned Parenthood provides abortion, birth control, pap smears and other health services to women. It had received about $700,000 annually from Komen to provide mammograms for low-income women."
"SB 134 would require hospitals to offer discounts to uninsured patients who have family incomes at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level - $92,200 for a family of four. It also would mandate that hospitals offer to screen each patient for the discount program."
"The veterans group is new and growing. The first meeting was Dec. 6, said Paul Dickerson, a certified addiction professional in charge of the veterans group. Many of the people who show up to the meetings are homeless, Dickerson said, and the group works to connect those people with the resources available to them."
"The 46-bed facility takes in homeless alcoholics and allows them to continue drinking alcohol. Worthman spent years on the streets of Anchorage and was well known by social services workers, said Melinda Freemon, spokeswoman for Rural CAP, the nonprofit that runs Karluk Manor."
"The move will halt financing to 19 of Planned Parenthood's 83 affiliates, which received nearly $700,000 from the Komen foundation last year and have been receiving similar grants since at least 2005. Planned Parenthood contends that the Komen foundation is yielding to longstanding pressure from anti-abortion groups, which Komen denies."
"That's set to change after first lady Michelle Obama visits the site of the grocer's future store in Inglewood on Wednesday to showcase efforts being made to draw grocers to low-income neighborhoods."
"The American Lung Association opposes the proposed co-payment. There is no evidence that it would encourage smokers to quit, said Jennifer Singleterry, the association's manager of cessation policy. Instead, low-income smokers on Medicaid would just have to pay more. 'We feel that this is a punitive measure for smokers,' she said."
"Free medical care provided by hospital systems to low-income patients continued to rise in 2010 amid the ongoing backdrop of a sluggish economy. Carilion Clinic saw its charity care, which is given to people on a sliding scale by discounting either a portion or all of the costs, grow to $63.2 million for the 2010 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2010."
"Many low- and middle-income people are now unable or unwilling to pay for screening tests or visits to the doctor. Their plight underscores the urgent need to retain the health care reform law that will expand proven screening and prevention programs at no charge to patients."
"Storms is pushing a bill that would prohibit recipients of food stamps from using them to buy soda, candy or snacks that she considers unhealthful."
"As a result, thousands of pregnant women are pushed out of jobs that they are perfectly capable of performing -- either put on unpaid leave or simply fired -- when they request an accommodation to help maintain a healthy pregnancy. Many are single mothers or a family's primary breadwinner. They are disproportionately low-income women, often in physically demanding jobs with little flexibility."
"At a campaign rally in Florida Monday evening, Mitt Romney told the crowd: 'We will never go after Medicare and Social Security.' Romney's remark is already causing some conservatives to despair that he is throwing entitlement reform under the bus in order to pander to seniors."
"Sponsored by the County Medical Services Program (CMSP), Path2Health provides free medical, dental and vision services for low-income, uninsured adults in 34 primarily rural California counties, including Humboldt."
"About 78,000 people in the Miami Valley live in poorer areas that lack markets that sell affordable and nutritious food, and low-income residents and those without post-secondary educations have some of the highest obesity rates in the state."
"Health experts say low-income people often can't afford their medications or the healthier foods they are advised to eat. Many don't have cars and have trouble getting to follow-up medical appointments, and they can be confused about the sometimes complex instructions they are given for managing their conditions."
"Dr. Bob Sayson traveled the world on medical missions before he saw a similar need right at home. It was April 2006 and Sayson was treating patients at the first Compassion Rockwood, an event that brought medical, dental and social-services help to people in Gresham's poorest neighborhood."
"They’re often places where two-lane highways wind around wooded hills, where mining or manual farm labor once put food on the table, and access to medical care has long been limited. Poverty begets bad health and greater rates of disability, experts say, and disabilities often lead to deeper poverty."
"The chairman of the House Ways and Means General Fund committee thinks the state could reduce Medicaid costs by putting the Alabama Medicaid Agency in the hands of a private firm. The proposal has drawn criticism from physicians' groups and an advocacy group for low-income Alabamians, both of which say there's nothing left to cut in Medicaid except essential care."
"A 38 percent increase in poverty probably is responsible for more abuse and neglect in Huron County. 'This report shows a staggering increase of confirmed child abuse and neglect victims, from 26 in 2009 to 62 in 2010,' stated Becky Gettel, Huron County Great Start Collaborative executive director, about a new Kids Count report."
"Similar to ADHC, the new program will offer center-based skilled health and nursing care, therapy, transportation and other services to eligible low-income seniors and people with disabilities. ADHC will be phased out and replaced by the new program on March 1."
"Lunch prices for Ridgewood are $2.25 for kindergarten to third grade and $2.50 for fourth through 12th grade. Breakfast is $1. Reduced prices for low-income students who qualify are 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast."
"The drug-user stereotype is assigned to those perceived as able-bodied workers choosing to be idle. It's a one-size-fits-all judgment that fails to look at why someone seeks aid or what she might be doing to rise above her circumstances (pursuing an education, job training, juggling low-wage work). There's something repugnant in suspecting our neighbors of drug use simply because they're out of work."
"The Family Investment Program was initiated as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform. Currently, 11.8 percent of Iowa's population lives in households with income below the federal poverty level - which is $10,830 annually for a single adult and $18,310 annually for a family of three."
"Sara Sanders of North Little Rock has taken her four children to the Little Rock Pediatric Clinic for nearly eight years - in exchange for benefits that go beyond just physical health. Through age 5, each well-child visit to the clinic comes with an added bonus - a new book."
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