The state is spending $17 million to expand 22 sites into wellness centers to provide preventive care in an effort to curb racial disparities in health outcomes.
Robin Erb
Robin Erb covers a range of health issues in Michigan, including the industry of aging and the issues facing older residents in Michigan, a state that is aging faster than most others. She joined Bridge in 2019 and has led investigations that tracked millions of dollars in opioid settlement money and explored severe worker shortages in health care that threaten lives and the state's economy. She chronicled the shock and grief of Michigan families in COVID’s wake, as well as state policy decisions and the triumphs of medical breakthroughs. Robin previously spent six years covering health at the Detroit Free Press, documenting the battle over, and the eventual passage of, the Affordable Care Act and Michigan's Medicaid expansion. She studied communications and political science at Miami University and has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lourdes University (Toledo, Ohio). She and her husband raised two wonderful children — but have failed miserably at training their Beagle-Bassets — in southeast Michigan. Reach her at rerb@bridgemi.com.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
As marijuana stigma fades, 1 in 4 older Michiganders say they use pot
A national poll finds that Michiganders 50 years or older are more likely than their counterparts in other states to turn to cannabis products. They also are more likely to report signs of addiction.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
How does Michigan use its opioid dollars? Here’s how Bridge found out
Without a central reporting requirement, Michiganders can be left in the dark at how their communities are using funds to combat the drug crisis. Bridge’s investigation is the most exhaustive to date.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Amid drug crisis, one Michigan city is using money to help backfill budget
Farmington Hills has used about $120,000 from an opioid lawsuit settlement to repay itself for past drug-fighting costs. Almost all other cities are using the money to help current users or future drug-fighting efforts.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan communities sit on $90M meant to help drug users, Bridge finds
Michigan doesn’t track how cities are spending their share of a landmark lawsuit settlement with opioid manufacturers. A Bridge investigation finds 4 in 10 haven’t spent money yet on the crisis that has upended thousands of lives.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Free COVID shots program ends for uninsured. In Michigan, what now?
A federal program that provides COVID shots for under- and uninsured Americans and others is ending, just as updated COVID vaccines are being released.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
In Michigan, cases of whooping cough — pertussis — continue to climb
For most people, pertussis is a mild illness, but it can be deadly to infants who are too young for a vaccine.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Mosquito-borne viruses — and a mystery — emerge as Michigan summer ends
This holiday weekend, close the laptop, fire up the grill and — health officials urge — grab the bug spray.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan’s McLaren Health Care back to ‘normal operations’ after cyberattack
Grand Blanc-based McLaren Health Care was hit earlier this month, part of a nationwide upswing in cyberattacks in health care.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Cheaper Medicare drugs bound for Michigan. By how much? It’s complicated
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allowed Medicare to negotiate the prices for 10 common or costly drugs. Those savings — up to 76% on one drug — are on the way for Medicare beneficiaries.
