Some argue a need for more potent — and pricier — overdose reversal drugs; others frame that effort as drugmakers peddling fear. The wrong choice could cost lives.
Michigan Health Watch
In-depth reporting on the intersection between public policy and important health topics ‒ such as insurance coverage, hospital admissions, opioid abuse, access to care, medical research and the business of health care ‒ that impact nearly every Michigan resident.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Mpox back in Michigan, though numbers are lower than 2022 outbreak
Since February, health officials say they’ve detected 16 new cases of mpox, an infection primarily found among men having sex with other men. Just four cases were reported last year.
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Michigan’s fifth measles case found in Detroit. Others potentially exposed
A child in Detroit has measles and may have exposed others to the highly contagious virus, according to health officials. It’s the fifth known case this year in Michigan, which had gone four years without.
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In traveling RV, Michigan nurse tries to undo opioid damage she helped cause
Michigan nurse Jordana Latozas began her career writing prescriptions for pain pills in “a different world.” Fourteen years later, she said, she’s trying to right the wrong that those pills caused.
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Medical debts crush 14M Americans; Michigan programs aim to ease burden
Medical debt is on the rise, even as the number of uninsured people decreases. Hospitals and other systems are stepping up efforts to curtail the debts.
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ACLU calls for ending Michigan parental-consent law for underage abortions
A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union and others used court data and interviews with sexual-health advocates, attorneys and providers to examine Michigan’s 1991 law requiring parental consent for abortions
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Michigan opioid settlement dollars sit unspent as crisis rages
Less than a quarter of the money Michigan’s state government has received to fight the opioid crisis has been spent, more than a year after the funds began flowing into state coffers.
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Fighting Michigan's opioid crisis with new needles, purer drugs, respect for addicts
Harm reduction is more than needle exchanges. At Grand Rapids-based Red Project, users can ask to have their drugs checked for additives, allowing the user to decide whether to discard or use them.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Supreme Court abortion pill case ‘terrifying’ for Michigan women, Nessel says
Michigan voters in 2022 guaranteed abortion access in the state constitution, but a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court could sharply restrict who gets the abortion pill. Attorney General Dan Nessel calls that a “terrifying” prospect.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Report: Michigan needs coordination, collaboration in spending opioid funds
Michigan governments sharing in a $1.5 billion opioid crisis settlement must invest in housing, peer recovery staff and harm reduction programs like syringe exchanges, according to a new report.