National rankings found North Dakota s health care system does well in terms of overall performance, but access and affordability are problem areas, prompting more discussions about connecting more populations with quality care. This past week, the North Dakota Voices Network hosted a forum on health equity issues. Whitney Fear, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Family HealthCare and member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, spoke about barriers facing Indigenous populations. .
Experts are calling on the FCC to consider recent studies linking fertility problems to radio-frequency radiation from cellphones and other wireless devices. The Environmental Health Trust just placed five additional studies onto the FCC docket, which found wireless radio frequency (RF) radiation can impact the ovaries and reduce testosterone. Dr. .
A Connecticut health-care workers union is raising concerns over what it calls a "staffing crisis" in addiction services that led the state to close treatment admissions at two hospitals for the first time. Members of SEIU District 1199 New England said the closures in late December at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown and Blue Hills Treatment Center in Hartford, disconnected people from medically managed detoxification services, the highest level of addiction care. Thomas Burr, community and affiliate relations manager for NAMI Connecticut, said that, combined with flat funding for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, people have been unable to get the help they need. .
Advocates for a single-payer, government-funded health-care system in California are vowing to fight another day, after Assembly Bill 1400 was pulled Monday for lack of votes. The bill would have allowed people to ditch their private insurance, something opponents say amounts to a government takeover that would require big tax increases. However, Assembly member Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, the main author of the bill, said the high costs in the existing, private-insurance system put coverage out of reach for many low-income families. .