In Michigan, nearly 1 in 5 children have obesity. Some doctors say weight loss drugs can help patients get ahead of the problem before the extra weight triggers lifelong — and expensive — conditions.
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 crisis rages, Michigan speeds up opioid spending in new budget
The state will pump close to $50 million into addiction services next year from opioid settlement funds. It’s a big increase over current spending.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
ACLU challenges Michigan’s ban on Medicaid-funded abortions
Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan are challenging the state’s ban on using Medicaid dollars for abortion procedures, calling the prohibition ‘burdensome and discriminatory.’
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan judge suspends abortion law mandating 24-hour wait
Michigan’s 24-hour waiting period law “exacerbates the burdens that patients experience seeking abortion care,” the judge wrote.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
In Michigan, cases of whooping cough hint at post-pandemic comeback
The infection, known for causing a can’t-catch-your-breath, whoop-like cough, usually causes only a mild illness, but can be deadly to infants.
Posted inBusiness Watch
12 more Rite Aid stores closing in Michigan, the latest for bankrupt chain
Rite Aid is in bankruptcy and has struggled to keep its doors open. See if your location is on the closure list.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Millions to help opioid users still unspent in half of Michigan’s counties
As a crisis mounts that kills 3,000 per year, Michigan’s counties have been slow to distribute tens of millions of dollars in funds meant to fight the opioid crisis.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Cyberattack on Ascension Michigan, other sites, began with ‘honest mistake’
A person in an Ascension system ‘accidentally downloaded a malicious file that they thought was legitimate,’ the hospital system reported in its latest update.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
How many abortions in Michigan? The state can’t say under new law
Michigan’s 45-plus year history of annually publishing abortion statistics is ending under a law passed last year.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Ascension Michigan pharmacies can fill drug scripts now, data crisis lingers
The behemoth Catholic hospital chain has been forced to pivot from computers to paperwork at times after a cyberattack breached its systems May 8. Warned of longer wait times, patients are expected to keep their appointments unless otherwise directed.