Health and Poverty News
"Gov. David Paterson dropped a proposed tax on sodas last year in the face of industry opposition, and lobbyists for soda companies are already denouncing the new proposal as unfair to lower-income families struggling through a recession."
"For eight years parishioners at the United Church of Christ in Medfield cooked up hearty batches of chili and chicken soup and brought them to the streets of Boston, handing out bowls of sustenance to the city's homeless."
"We found the highest rates of overweight or obesity in kids who were black (41.1%), Spanish-speaking Hispanic (45%), living below the poverty level (44.8%), publicly insured (43.2%) and those who did not participate in activities outside of school (40.3%)."
"They come here because Watts is one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, and abortion rates tend to be higher in low-income areas, according to the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, a leading authority on sexual health issues."
""It's a time of critical change for older women," Wyn said. "Not only are they at risk of new and complex health conditions, but as they near the age of retirement, their insurance status may change too.""
"Public-health experts fear the continuing economic recession will take a toll on women as deeper cuts are made in public-health programs for low-income households."
"It would be used to prop up the hospitals' reimbursement rates for providing care to low-income Medicaid patients, which the state has cut 32 percent in recent years. All told, it would attract nearly $90 million in federal funds in the coming year."
"In four rulings, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected attempts by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to reduce the state's deficit by paying less to the health professionals who treat 6.6 million low-income Californians..."
"[A] reduction in a new tax on high-end "Cadillac" health plans and an increase in subsidies to help low- and moderate-income Americans buy health coverage"
"Monitors also said in their report that clinics might have paid their bills by improperly tapping federal funds set aside for low-income AIDS patients without insurance"
"That foundation last month presented another report that detailed wide disparities in people's health status according to where they live, with residents of low-income cities like Philadelphia having more health problems, on average"
"The state appealed to the federal government yesterday to help Massachusetts hospitals that care for disproportionately high numbers of lower-income patients who receive state- sponsored health insurance"
"The Antelope Valley and South areas are considered medically underserved because they are home to large numbers of uninsured and low-income resident"
"The legislation would curb insurance industry practices such as denying coverage to people who are already sick, extend coverage to about 30 million uninsured people, and help many low-income people pay for it"
"The Connector oversees the state's 2006 landmark health law that created Commonwealth Care, which provides lower-cost insurance for low-income residents."
"'It's outrageous opponents would waste our tax dollars and let babies die ... just to make some cheap political statement about illegal immigration,' said Dr. Kristine McVea, a pediatrician [who] provides care to low income people and minorities..."
"A federal judge blocked the state Wednesday from removing thousands of low-income Californians, most of them elderly and mentally infirm, from a program that provides them daytime care and supervision in local centers."
"The lead menace, though, has been taken on in a variety of ways, including a series of state laws over the past decade, a new federal rule requiring lead-free practices by contractors, and a federal program to pay low-income homeowners most of the cost of lead remediation."
"Boone, for example, had 8 percent of children living in poverty, an adult smoking rate of 20 percent and 15 percent saying they had poor to fair health."
"School-based dental sealant programs. Just 17 states have programs to apply cavity-preventing sealants to children's molars in at least 25% of schools with low-income children."
"Insurance mandate: Like the bills approved last year by the House and Senate, the proposal would require most everyone to be insured or pay a fine. There is an exemption for low-income people."
"Celena Roldan, executive director of Erie House, said the community group supports healthy eating, but opposes a tax that 'hurts our families who are trying to survive on very low incomes.'"
"The hard times are not over. The enhanced Medicaid match is necessary -- both to help ease the states' budget problems and to ensure that low-income residents get health care."
"Ms. Rosenfeld took a job after graduating from Brooklyn College at a nutrition center for low-income women, where her devotion to breast-feeding began."
"Census figures show that more than half the residents of the predominantly Latino area, west of Kensington, live below the poverty line of $22,050 for a family of four. Nearly two-thirds of the neighborhood children live in poverty."
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