The current ACA works pretty well for 88 percent of Michiganders. Any change should improve that number, but will it?
health care
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
*A perennial problem in Michigan elections will reach its yearly peak soon. August primary elections sneak up on voters who quickly find they might not have ready access to independent information about candidates and issues. Vote411 is an attempt to help. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Education Fund, the site offers ballot language, […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Obamacare seems to be helping to curtail health costs
CHRT graphic. CLICK TO ENLARGE In recent months, a conversation has burgeoned in health and public policy forums about the slowdown in the growth of health-care spending. We are all asking the same questions: Is this slowdown real? Are some of the past cost containment efforts and recent provisions in the federal Affordable Care […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
COSTLY COVERAGE: As Michigan debates aspects of the federal Affordable Care Act, new data shows that the bite of health insurance now takes $1 out of every $5 in household income in the state. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) *A point often lost in the debate over changes to health care: The status quo […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Region struggles with sick economy, sick families
(Bridge illustration/Howard Davy) When Dr. Marion Hautea looks out at the waiting room at Thunder Bay Community Health Service in Rogers City, he sees diabetes. He sees hypertension. He sees abscessed teeth and coronary disease. Mostly, though, he sees jobs. Jobs that have left Northeast Michigan, burdening the region with the highest unemployment rate […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Job-based health coverage plummets
Linda and Ken Brauer went years without health insurance after Ken lost his job as a salesman in 2007. Ken became eligible for Medicare in January. But Linda, a 63-year-old unemployed social worker with a master’s degree, has been unable to find work and still lacks health insurance. “People are just so vulnerable,” said Linda […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Cheboygan hospital's turmoil, shrinkage part of necessary change in rural health
By Marianne Udow-Phillips/Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation Debates about the Affordable Care Act will continue — in the Supreme Court, in the halls of Congress and around the country — but health reform is already happening all around us. All we need to do is look. A case in point is Cheboygan on the […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed” — Charles Caleb Colton, 19th century English writer. * Bridge’s media partner, Mlive.com, is publishing an impressive series this week on self-defense shootings in Michigan. First major point: There are far more of these shootings than the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Jobs of the future: Where they'll be in Michigan
Jim Danielski tells horror stories, but not the kind shared with toasted marshmallows around a campfire. Danielski’s horror stories are the kind that should keep Gov. Rick Snyder awake at night. At his career counseling center in Plymouth, Danielski sees a steady stream of people who aren’t ready for Michigan’s new economy. Some have no […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Five fields that will still pay well
Michiganians looking to increase their odds of landing a full-time job with above-average pay should head directly to a hospital. Can’t stand the sight of blood? Maybe you would prefer being a financial analyst. Not good with numbers? Think about oil and gas. The job outlook in Michigan is projected to remain tight through 2018, […]
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