Month: August 2022

Today, the White House released state fact sheets that highlight how the Inflation Reduction Act lowers health care costs for Americans nationwide. The fact sheets highlight how millions of Americans across all 50 states and the District of Columbia will benefit from Medicare finally having the power to negotiate prescription drug prices, will gain peace of mind from knowing that their out-of-pocket prescription drug costs are capped at $2,000 annually in Medicare, and will save hundreds of dollars per year on health insurance premiums because of the law.

After three decades of attempts, the Inflation Reduction Act takes on one of the most powerful special interests in history – the pharmaceutical lobby – to deliver cost savings directly to American families. And, it protects the progress made under the Biden-Harris Administration to give more Americans access to affordable health insurance coverage, bringing the uninsured rate to an all-time low. By

Maridav // Shutterstock

5 facts about mental health care during the first year of the pandemic

Woman on couch looking sad

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental health in America, the full scope of which is still unfolding. Social isolation, the shutdown of schools and businesses, and restrictions on in-person health care services became the new normal by mid-2020. Yet even before the pandemic, mental health advocates raised concerns over the mental health needs of Americans.

For that reason, Foothold Technology identified five insights about mental health and mental health care during 2020, using data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

One in 5 people live with a mental health issue, according to findings from a 2020 SAMHSA study. This and other similar statistics serve as a catalyst for the agency’s mental health awareness campaigns; however, the pandemic made the need for

TORONTO, Aug. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

The following is a statement by the Ontario Health Coalition:

Here are the facts about the Ford government’s new legislation, Bills 7 – More Beds, Better Care Act, 2022, which was introduced in the Legislature last week and is currently under debate. The government has made an array of claims, some of which have been printed in major media stories, that do not accord with the facts. Here are the facts:

1. There are 38,000 people waiting for a long-term care home in Ontario. The reason that there are Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients in hospitals waiting for LTC is the LTC wait list. The only long-term care homes that do not have long waiting lists are those to which people do not want to go.

2. The pandemic exposed horrific conditions of care and living in some long-term care

You already know a few basic facts: Stay Hydrated! Eat properly! Exercise! But, as it turns out, there’s a lot more to it than that, continue reading to ignite your curiosity:

10. Mental health benefits from meditation more than vacations

Researchers from the Netherlands studied 91 female volunteers and divided them into three groups – those who meditated regularly, and those who had never meditated, both groups committed to 12 hours of mindfulness training over the course of a regular workweek and the third group who would let go of meditation entirely in favor of a week-long vacation.


While all 3 groups reported benefits of lowered stress and improved mood, the participants that continued meditating showed positive results 10 months later too, while the vacationers returned to their normal states after their trips ended.

9. There is a link between depression and drinking coffee
We hear a lot

Someone who has a rare or serious disease needs a double dose of education: After learning all about their health condition, patients and caregivers then need to understand how to manage health care bills and insurance coverage.

It can be overwhelming, but the Immune Deficiency Foundation recently held a webinar to help people who have immune deficiency diseases understand how health insurance works.

Stephanie Steele, IDF’s PI Community Engagement Manager, and Abraham Yunis, IDF’s Director of Payer Relations and Policy, offered these tips. We also added advice from CSL Behring’s Kris McFalls, Senior Manager for Reimbursement and Access.

1. Know what to look for in an insurance plan. Check www.healthcare.gov to learn about options. Consider your current providers and if you want to stick with them, choose a plan that includes them as “in-network,” which means that