Firefighters struggle with considerable mental health tolls, face high suicide rates; Vermont dairy farm workers report improvements after Milk With Dignity agreement; unions win big wage boost for Disneyland Resort workers; and Vox offers a new tool to search which employers require mandatory arbitration.
Affordable Care Act
Study: Affordable Care Act increased availability, coverage of mental health care
Another day, another study on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act and what we risk losing as the Trump administration continues its sabotage.
New data finds one American is dying from alcohol, drugs and suicide every four minutes — that’s the highest number recorded so far.
Guns are the third leading cause of injury-related death in the country. Every year, nearly 12,000 gun homicides happen in the U.S., and for every person killed, two more are injured. Whether Congress will do anything about this violence is a whole other (depressing) article. But there is evidence that change is possible.
Affordable Care Act
GOP health care bills would cripple public health opioid response: ‘We’d essentially be putting up the white flag’
In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, nearly 200 people have died from opioid-related overdoses in the first five months of this year. That means that this one U.S. county is on pace to lose more than 700 people to fatal overdoses by the end of 2017.
Affordable Care Act
Study: Kids with chronic health problems will face greater financial burdens if forced out of CHIP
More than 8 million U.S. children depend on the Children’s Health Insurance Program for access to timely medical care. The program is authorized through 2019, but its federal funding expires in September and it’s unclear what Congress will do.
Before Patrick Morrison worked for the International Association of Fire Fighters, he was a firefighter himself. He’s experienced the horrifying and profoundly saddening events that first responders see every day. And like many other firefighters, he turned to alcohol to deal with the accumulating mental trauma.
Yesterday, House Republicans failed to find enough votes to pass their Affordable Care Act replacement. It was a very good day for the millions of Americans projected to lose their coverage under the GOP plan. But let’s be clear: Obamacare is not safe.
The New York Times interviews current, former workers at restaurants run by Trump’s labor secretary nominee; Kentucky lawmakers move to weaken unions; Maryland county votes to raise the minimum wage to $15; and Houston’s new police chief calls for better mental health services for police officers.
More and more of America’s adolescents and young adults are struggling with depression, especially young women, according to a study released earlier this week.