Category: Policy

How to address the mental health fallout of climate change

An existential crisis On August 9, the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report made public what many had feared. Global temperature warming to 1.5 C is all but inevitable by 2040 — even by the most optimistic scena…

The FDA’s Dysfunction Is A Public Health Crisis Of Its Own

The FDA’s perpetual tardiness is a product of its culture. Agency officials don’t get in trouble if a drug or medical device that could save lives never makes it to market. But if an approved product injures or kills someone, then the agency could take…

Open enrollment: It’s time to leave your insurance plan behind

Research shows inadequate health insurance accounts for nearly 67 percent of all bankruptcies. This statistic is staggering, and illustrates a difficult reality for the many American families navigating today’s insurance market. Not only can medi…

Not Just Austria—Here Are The Countries Making Covid-19 Vaccination Compulsory For Everyone

Austria joined a handful of other countries Friday when it announced plans to require all adults to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

‘We Have To Face Reality’: Austria Announces Nationwide Vaccine Mandate, Full-Scale Covid-19 Lockdown

The country has already placed millions of unvaccinated people into lockdown as it struggles to contain record levels of Covid-19.

Nearly One Third Of Healthcare Workers In U.S. Hospitals Are Still Not Vaccinated Against Covid-19, CDC Study Finds, As Vaccine Mandate Looms

Around 70% of healthcare workers in U.S. hospitals were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of September 15, according to the CDC study, with higher rates found among workers in children’s hospitals and urban areas.

The FDA Plans To Ban Menthol Cigarettes: What You Need To Know

The new nominee to head the FDA begs the question: What is the White House inhaling when it comes to tobacco policy?

Biden’s Next Big Push With China May Be In Healthcare And The Fight Against Cancer

The death of son Beau Biden from cancer spurred an effort by then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to organize a “National Cancer Moonshot Initiative” to support research to “end cancer as we know it.”

Austria Sends Unvaccinated Into Lockdown—Here’s How Other Nations Are Limiting People Who Don’t Get Covid-19 Shots

Austria, which has one of the highest rates of Covid-19 infection in the world and one of the worst vaccination rates in Western Europe, joins a handful of nations introducing restrictions for the unvaccinated.

The climate crisis as viewed by an emergency physician

I remember the cacophony of tiny chirps outside of my childhood home made by frogs that lived in the ice grass. I remember this sound in particular because of the beauty in their voice and because in what seemed like the blink of an eye, they stopped. …