research | The Pump Handle

Affordable Care Act More research that defunding Planned Parenthood simply leaves women without needed health care

May 26, 2017 Kim Krisberg

To the surprise of literally no one, President Trump’s 2018 budget proposed stripping all federal funds, including Medicaid dollars, from Planned Parenthood. Proponents of this argue that if Planned Parenthood clinics end up shuttered, women can simply access care elsewhere. But growing research shows that’s the opposite of what actually happens.

Environmental Health The PRIDE Study is open for enrollment: People are ‘hungry to be heard and represented’

May 23, 2017 Kim Krisberg 4Comment

Last week, researchers officially opened enrollment in the nation’s first decades-long study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer health — an effort they hope will transform our understanding of the health challenges LGBTQ people face and begin narrowing a giant data gap on their physical, mental and social well-being.

Environmental Health Study: U.S. Zika burden could cost billions in medical care, lost productivity

May 18, 2017 Kim Krisberg 1Comment

A Zika attack rate of just 1 percent across the six states most at risk for the mosquito-borne disease could result in $1.2 billion in medical costs and lost productivity, a new study finds. That’s more than the $1.1 billion in emergency Zika funding that Congress approved last year after months of delay and which is expected to run out this summer.

California Study: One-third of U.S. children with harmful lead exposures going unidentified

May 5, 2017 Kim Krisberg

Right now, according to public health officials, about half a million U.S. kids have blood lead levels that could harm their health. However, new research finds many more children — hundreds of thousands more — are likely going unidentified.

Government Study: Training parents as immunization advocates a promising approach to vaccine hesitancy

May 1, 2017 Kim Krisberg 4Comment

Protecting babies and children against dangerous — sometimes fatal — diseases is a core mission of public health. Everyday, in health departments across the nation, someone is working on maintaining and improving childhood vaccination rates and keeping diseases like measles and mumps from regaining a foothold in the U.S.

Affordable Care Act Study: Kids with chronic health problems will face greater financial burdens if forced out of CHIP

April 25, 2017 Kim Krisberg

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.

Affordable Care Act The ACA marketplace is beginning to stabilize. But it can’t withstand federal sabotage.

April 21, 2017 Kim Krisberg

There was always an assumption that the Affordable Care Act would need time to find its sea legs. That’s why it included measures to shield insurers from the potential profit losses that inherently come with offering millions more people better health coverage at more reasonable prices. Insurers operate on profit margins and the ACA took that into account, for better or for worse.

Drug Safety County Health Rankings: Drug overdoses driving turnaround in premature death rates

April 12, 2017 Kim Krisberg 1Comment

To get a clearer sense of just how bad our drug overdose problem has gotten, look no further than this year’s County Health Rankings. The annual report found that after years of declining premature deaths, that rate is on the rise and due primarily to overdose deaths. It means we could be seeing the first generation of American kids with shorter life expectancies than their parents.

Food Safety & Nutrition More soda tax success: Study finds Mexico’s tax reduced sugary beverage buys two years in a row

March 10, 2017 Kim Krisberg 2Comment

Another day, another study that shows soda taxes work to reduce the consumption of beverages associated with costly chronic diseases in children and adults.

Agriculture Study: Seven-fold increase in antibiotic-resistant infection among children

March 3, 2017 Kim Krisberg

Most news on the dangers of antibiotic-resistant infections focus on adults. But children are very much at risk too. In fact, a recent study found that U.S. children have experienced a 700 percent surge in infections caused by particular bacteria that’s both resistant to multiple antibiotics and responsible for growing numbers of serious bacterial infections in kids.

Liz Borkowski, MPH	Celeste Monforton, DrPH,
Kim Krisberg	Garrett Brown