Tagged: Health Care

BOSTON — Massachusetts House lawmakers have pushed back against Gov. Deval Patrick on welfare restrictions, mental health and immigration checks.

BOSTON — In the days since Gov. Deval Patrick signed a budget that will, in effect, close Taunton State Hospital, we’ve been hearing from people who stand to lose the most. WGBH News takes a deeper look at the complex matter of taking care of the mentally ill in Massachusetts.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — This summer, two Boston College professors are leading a group of students to volunteer at a clinic for HIV patients who are at the end of their lives in a society where the illness carries significant stigma.

BOSTON — The fight to save Taunton State Hospital is not going away ... it may actually be stepping up. On July 8, Gov. Deval Patrick used a line-item veto to cut $5 million for the mental health facility and transfer services more than 1 hour away to Worcester. Southeastern Massachusetts is angry, some lawmakers are working toward an override and the local newspaper is voicing support for the facility.

Every 10 minutes, someone in the United States contracts HIV. Half are black. Thirty years after the discovery of the AIDS virus among gay white men, nearly half of the one million people in the United States infected with HIV are black men, women and children.

A new FRONTLINE two-hour special, ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America, looks at one of our most preventable health crises.

Every 10 minutes, someone in the U.S. contracts HIV. Half are black. In fact, 30 years after the discovery of the AIDS virus among gay white men, nearly half of the 1 million people in the U.S. infected with HIV are African American men, women and children. A new Frontline special, "ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America," looks at one of our most preventable health crises. You can watch the documentary on WBGH 2 at 9 p.m. on July 10.

Dr. Jennifer Morgan is an assistant scientist in the Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering at MBL. She studies nerve cell communication and repair in sea lampreys. She joined us on Living Lab to talk about what she’s learning and what it might mean for those living with spinal cord injuries.

BOSTON — Massachusetts health insurance plans will have to cough up almost $57 million in rebates to customers, state officials announced on June 26.

The Supreme Court health care ruling is now expected to come down this Thursday, June 28. While we all drum our fingers, law expert Renée Landers reviewed the four possible scenarios and explains the ramifications of each. Most likely, Landers said, is that the court will strike down the individual insurance mandate but uphold the rest of the law, following the 2011 judgment of a federal appeals court in Atlanta.

Facing a $159 million deficit, the MBTA has approved fare hikes across the board and service cuts across the Commonwealth. The immediate effect is that thousands of commuters will be inconvenienced. The long-term consequences could come in the form of a public health predicament.