Tag Archives: Health Care
Tinkering with the Human Heart in ‘Ticker’
Set in Houston, Mimi Swartz’s new book delivers an engrossing human drama populated with off-kilter geniuses.
Early in Mimi Swartz’s fascinating Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart, a surgeon with no good options left cuts out a sheep’s heart and...Read More
A Timely, Enraging Documentary Humanizes the Rape Kit Backlog Crisis
Texas lawmakers have turned to crowdfunding to test rape kits, absent adequate state funding.
In 1996, just days after her 17th birthday, Helena was abducted at knifepoint from a self-service car wash near her home in Los Angeles, held for 10 hours and r...Read More
Medicare for Y’all: Meet the Socialist Metalhead Stumping for Single-Payer
Timothy Faust is touring the country promoting health care reform with a mix of impassioned f-bombs and unrepentant eggheadedness.
Timothy Faust, a 29-year-old socialist metalhead, isn’t your typical health care policy wonk. Sporting shoulder-length hair, a bandana and a Lone Star flag ta...Read More
Report: If Rural Texans Want Decent Health Care, They Should Mosey to New Hampshire
With high rates of fatal heart disease and stroke, limited access to care and sky-high uninsured rates, Texas gets a “D-” in a new “report card” comparing rural health care between states.
Texas and other Southern states are home to small-town doctor shortages, skyrocketing rates of preventable disease among rural residents and some of the highest...Read More
How a Texas Mom Fought to Restore Daughter’s Therapy After State Cuts
Years of legislative funding cuts to therapy for special needs kids has led to interrupted services and changes in behavior for some.
Amanda Crouse watched helplessly as the words began to slip away from her daughter Haylee. It had taken Crouse and a team of therapists months to help Haylee, t...Read More
Where do Texas Democrats Stand on Single-Payer Health Care?
Half of the state’s congressional Dems have not signed on to Medicare for All legislation.
About 4.5 million Texans would get coverage under the single-payer health care legislation that’s gaining traction in Congress. Texas, with the highest uninsu...Read More
State Plans to Restore Services after Advocates in Wheelchairs Surprise Officials
After disability advocates surrounded HHSC officials Monday, they were told the contract would be renewed, but few details have been provided.
On Monday afternoon, Emily Wolinsky and about 15 other disability-rights advocates, most in wheelchairs, sat around a long table at an Italian restaurant across...Read More
Compassionate (Ab)use: Family Battles Texas over Medical Marijuana
The Zartlers have gone through a veritable pharmacy of prescription drugs, but they say medical marijuana is the only thing that stops Kara from hitting herself.
Mark Zartler measures how well his 17-year-old daughter, Kara, is doing by what he calls a “hit test” — counting the number of times she hits herself on a...Read More
What a Ban on Insurance for Abortions Means for Women with High-Risk Pregnancies
UPDATE: Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 214 into law on Tuesday, August 15. The measure passed the Senate on August 13 by a vote of 20 to 10, and in the ...Read More