State Highlights: Pediatrician Who Spearheaded Efforts In Flint Shares Story; Miss. Residents Accused Of Defrauding Insurers Of More Than $200M
Media outlets report on news from Michigan, Mississippi, Texas, California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
NPR:
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha: Lead, Water And Resistance In Flint, Mich.
In August 2015, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was having a glass of wine in her kitchen with two friends, when one friend, a water expert, asked if she was aware of what was happening to the water in Flint, Mich. Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician in Flint, knew that the city had changed its water source the previous year. Instead of channeling water from the Great Lakes, residents were now drinking water from the nearby Flint River. She had been aware of some problems with bacteria after the switch, but she thought everything had been cleared up. (Gross, 6/25)
The Associated Press:
4 Charged With Defrauding Insurers Of More Than $200M
Four Mississippi residents are accused of defrauding insurers of more than $200 million, the latest indictments in a still-unfolding investigation into pharmacies that prosecutors say bribed health care providers to prescribe handcrafted high-dollar medications that were in many cases unnecessary. Indictments against Hope Thomley and Randy Thomley of Hattiesburg, Glenn Beach Jr. of Sumrall, and Gregory Parker of Laurel were unsealed Monday in Hattiesburg. (6/25)
Dallas Morning News:
Texas Has Helped Patients Battle Over $15 Million In Medical Bills Since 2009
Since 2009, a state mediation program managed by the Texas Department of Insurance has allowed patients with certain health insurance plans to remain off the hook for large and unexpected medical bills while their insurer and health care provider agree on a payment. ... Mediation requests do not qualify if the health insurance plan is not eligible or the amount of the bill is too small. The Texas Department of Insurance says it has intervened in over $15 million in medical bills since it began to track the payout amounts in 2015. (Rice and Hogue, 6/25)
California Healthline:
After Setback, Proponents Of Universal Coverage In Calif. Look To Next Governor
Advocates of state-funded efforts to expand health insurance coverage for immigrants and some middle-class Californians will have to wait for the next governor before they can have any realistic hope of advancing that goal. Several proposals to make coverage more accessible and affordable for millions of Californians were left out of the state’s 2018-19 budget, dealing a sharp setback to Democratic lawmakers who fashion themselves as leaders of the resistance against federal retrenchment on health care. (Ibarra, 6/25)
Boston Globe:
MetLife Charged With Fraud For Failing To Pay Pensions Of ‘Dead’ Retirees
Financial services company MetLife Inc. was charged with fraud Monday by Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office for allegedly failing to make pension payments to hundreds of Massachusetts retirees the company had wrongly presumed to be dead. More than 400 Massachusetts pensioners with an average age of 72 were deemed to be deceased by MetLife after they failed to respond to notices from the company that their pension plans had been transferred to MetLife, according to Galvin. (Conti, 6/25)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Working To Save Lives, Philly Physicians Find Way To Help Patients Confront Death
Palliative Connect was designed to identify patients at Penn Medicine who have a high risk of dying within six months so they have time to prepare. ...But the data scientists behind Palliative Connect set out with a very different goal in mind: saving lives by predicting which patients were likely to develop one particular life-threatening condition. (Haydon, 6/26)
