As of April 28th, 1,132 cases of whooping cough have been reported in the state. The epidemic is on pace for as many as 3,000 cases this year, health officials said.
State is on pace to reach more than 3,000 cases for the year; levels that haven’t been seen in more than six decades.
A bill that would require insurers to cover abortion services is off the table this year in Washington state. A special session of the Washington legislature ended Wednesday without the Reproductive Parity Act reaching a vote. The bill would require private insurers that provide maternity coverage to also cover abortion. Advocates now hope to reintroduce the bill next year.
If passed, the Reproductive Parity Act would make the Evergreen State the first in the country to require public and private insurers to cover abortion if the plan covers maternity services.
Among the trends that drove down the state’s rankings this year were rises in the rates of obesity, diabetes, and smoking — and a decline in high school graduation rates.
In several counties, more than 1 in 5 residents has no health coverage, according to a new report from Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “If anyone doubts the need for health care reform,” said Kreidler,”there are a million people out there that they should talk to.”
Despite a recession, the number of jobs in Washington state’s life sciences sector rose 9 percent from 2007 through the first quarter of this year, according to a report released at the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Associations 2011 Governor’s Life Sciences Annual.
New legislation that will make it tougher for parents to obtain exemptions to state laws requiring their children be vaccinated before attending public schools.
There has been a substantial drop in both smoking and alcohol use among Washington youth, according to a survey of more than 212,000 students in the state’s public schools.
At risk are some of the very programs seen today as national models: A state-subsidized Basic Health insurance plan, services that help the elderly and disabled stay out of nursing homes and insurance for 27,000 undocumented children.
Health care accounts for $10 billion — or nearly a third — of the state’s two-year budget and so is a prime target for cuts.
Health-care reform has passed, but how will we implement all the changes the new law will require? To try to come up with some answers, more than 300 experts will come together in Seattle on Wednesday, Jan. 6th for the 2011 State of Reform conference.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
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Don’t bet on it.
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