U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called on his federal colleagues and President Donald Trump to do more now to control the costs of skyrocketing prescription drug costs. “There is no way that America can stand idle and allow these prescription drug costs to continue increasing at the present rate,” said Blumenthal at a press conference on Monday at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Mackenzie Rigg
Mackenzie is a former health reporter at CT Mirror. Prior to her time at CT Mirror, she covered health care, social services and immigration for the News-Times in Danbury and has more than a decade of reporting experience. She traveled to Uganda for the News-Times to report an award-winning five-part series about a Connecticut doctor's experience in Africa. A native of upstate New York, she started her journalism career at The Recorder in Greenfield, Mass., and worked at Newsday on Long Island for three years. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she wrote her master's thesis about illegal detentions in Haiti's women's prison.
Posted inHealth
CT AG slams Trump administration’s proposal to change Title X
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and 12 other attorneys general claim that proposed changes to Title X — the only federal program specifically dedicated to supporting the delivery of family planning care — are unconstitutional and would limit care options for women.
Posted inHealth
Legislators grill UConn Health, DOC about inmate health care
Concerns about the medical care provided to inmates in Connecticut’s prisons emerged during a six-hour hearing Monday as family members of inmates testified about substandard care and the correction department’s former chief medical officer told lawmakers that requests for specialized treatment were routinely denied.
Posted inJustice
DOC commissioner sued twice in a week over prisoners’ health care
The commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Correction was sued twice this week, an indication of persistent concerns about the quality of medical care being provided to inmates. The most recent lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges that a 19-year-old man died after he repeatedly asked for medical attention he never received. A second, a class action lawsuit, claims the department has refused to provide life-saving treatment to those incarcerated with hepatitis C.
Posted inHealth
Insurers seek rate hikes for 2019, but less than previous year
Most insurance companies selling individual and small group health plans in Connecticut have requested significant rate increases for next year, attributing the proposed hikes to growing health care costs and uncertainty in Washington D.C. about the erosion of the Affordable Care Act.
Posted inHealth
More ER docs turning to non-opioids to fight overdose epidemic
Emergency department physicians across the state are using more non-opioid treatments for conditions that historically have required powerful opioids for pain management, as they try to play a lead role in the overdose epidemic that kills on average 115 Americans every day. This change, coupled with other efforts, has resulted in a significant decrease in opioids ordered at emergency departments in at least two hospitals, Norwalk and Middlesex, from 2016 to 2017.
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DSS increasing staff at its call center to combat long wait times
DSS Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby. The commissioner of the state Department of Social Services says his agency is increasing staff at its call center to reduce long wait times. Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby wrote about the increase in staffing in a letter to a group of Medicaid advocates, providers, and clients who recently penned a […]
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Plaintiffs ask court to find DSS in contempt in Medicaid case
The plaintiffs in a federal class action lawsuit who settled with the state Department of Social Services want a judge to find the state in contempt for failing to process certain types of Medicaid applications in the mandated timeframe. The state argued it shouldn’t be found in contempt because the plaintiffs did not prove all elements for contempt.
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Advocates: DSS call center wait times must be fixed
A group of Medicaid enrollees, providers and advocates demanded Thursday that the state Department of Social Services address the long wait times and dropped calls at its five-year-old call center.
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Medicaid transportation firm fined for long wait-times for pick-ups
Veyo, Connecticut’s non-emergency medical transportation contractor, has been fined $4,000 for having Medicaid patients waiting over an hour for pick-ups, a violation of its contract with the state.
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CT high school student behavior is less risky than national average
Connecticut high school students engaged less often in risky behaviors, like taking painkillers without a prescription, seriously considering suicide and texting or emailing while driving, when compared to their peers nationwide.
Posted inHealth
As opioid deaths soar, Esty backs bill that pays for more medical examiners
U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty Tuesday said she will propose legislation that will provide $10 million for police forensics and to help pay for more medical examiners. The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is currently on provisional accreditation status because it has too few examiners to meet current demand.
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Study pegs Hurricane Maria deaths at 4,645. Gov’t count: 64
Federal lawmakers and advocates in Connecticut are calling for action after a new study’s results indicate that the official death count of 64 in Puerto Rico “is a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria.”The study’s death count: 4,645.
Posted inNews
Danbury doctor removes largest tumor he’s ever seen
On Valentine’s Day, a team of surgeons, physicians and medical staff at Danbury Hospital successfully removed a 132-pound benign tumor from a 38-year-old woman in a single five-hour surgery. In this conversation, Dr. Vaagn Andikyan, who led the team, tells us about the unusual case.
Posted inHealth
Drug-price transparency bill passes legislature with no dissent
A bill designed to help Connecticut officials peer into the black box of drug pricing won final approval from a unanimous state Senate early Wednesday, and will now go to the governor. Proponents of the measure called it a necessary first step toward curbing expensive prescription drug prices.