Massachusetts Press Coverage
- September 07, 2010 | from wbur.org Mass. First To Ban ATVs For Kids Under 14 Notice to the tens of thousands of Massachusetts families with All-Terrain Vehicles: If you were ever foolhardy enough to let children ride your ATV, those days are over.
- August 09, 2010 | from wbur.org Together, Family Battles Childhood Obesity A new law requires certain state agencies to develop guidelines to fight childhood obesity. Holyoke, one of the state's poorest cities, has become a leader in the fight with public health initiatives to teach families how to eat.
- August 03, 2010 | from Health Care For All What do other 33 states have for children that Massachusetts does not? Justin is a six year old boy with asthma. He stays healthy and out of the hospital as long as he takes his medications. One morning, Justin’s mom called the Health Care For All’s HelpLine in a panic.
- July 31, 2010 | from Boston Globe Governor signs bill to improve nutrition for schoolchildren Fried foods out; fruit, vegetables added to menu
- July 28, 2010 | from The Boston Globe House OK’s bill making insurers pay for autism services The Massachusetts House passed a bill yesterday that would require insurance companies to cover a broad range of services for children with autism.
- July 23, 2010 | from Boston Globe Legislature passes bill targeting childhood obesity A bill to restrict the sale of high-calorie, high-fat, and high-sodium snacks in schools has hit Governor Deval Patrick’s desk and could be law within 10 days.
- June 17, 2010 | from The Bay State Banner Federal health care program targets low-income children Since January, non-profit Health Care for All, one of the only Massachusetts institutions awarded a federal grant, enrolled 222 kids in a state subsidized health insurance paid for by the CHIPRA program.
- May 14, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Health plan riles small businesses Small businesses are crying foul over a proposal they say would shift more health insurance costs onto them for the treatment of developmentally disabled children, a move they say runs counter to pledges from Massachusetts lawmakers to help ease employers' staggering insurance bills.
- April 28, 2010 | from The Boston Globe This clinic dispenses an invitation to health The South End Community Health Center received more than $304,000 in federal grants to take on a challenge from the US Health and Human Services Department to go into local communities and find the children who do not have health insurance but are eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.
- April 26, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Scourge of asthma is acute in N.E. Not only does New England have the nation's highest rate of asthma, but the disease remains poorly controlled in most patients - routinely causing trips to the hospital and lost days at school and work, according to a study being released today.
- April 14, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Patrick unveils student health care option Governor Deval Patrick announced a plan yesterday to provide more comprehensive health insurance options for college students.
- March 19, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Boston receives $12.5M to combat obesity, smoking Boston has received $12.5 million in federal stimulus funding for a sweeping new effort to combat obesity and reduce smoking.
- March 15, 2010 | from The Boston Globe ‘C’ on kids’ dental care doesn’t pass In Massachusetts, one in 10 minority children goes to school with pain caused by completely preventable dental disease. That means lost school time, challenged learning, impaired nutrition and health, and sometimes, if left untreated, it can result in serious illness or even death.
- March 13, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Leading the fight against kids’ obesity The state Senate recently approved a bill to set new nutritional standards for schools that would effectively ban the sale of trash snacks, soda, and other sugary drinks, such as so-called "sports'' drinks.
- March 11, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Support grows for limiting junk food in Mass. schools A bill that would ban the sale of sugary drinks and junk food in school vending machines and school stores is gaining momentum in the Legislature, as Massachusetts combats a troubling rise in childhood obesity rates.
- February 24, 2010 | from The Boston Globe Mass. gets a 'C' for children's oral health Massachusetts earned a "C" for the oral health of its children from a national report released today on state dental policies intended to reach low-income children.
- February 11, 2010 | from Wicked Local Somerville Somerville mayor addresses childhood obesity at White House Among the various experts speaking at the launch of Let's Move, Michelle Obama's campaign to fight childhood obesity, was Mayor Joe Curtatone, who talked about some of the simple lifestyle changes that people can make to be healthier.
- December 22, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Kerry says health bill would help Mass. Senator John F. Kerry returned in between votes to Massachusetts today to declare that the bill the Senate is about to pass would reward, rather than penalize, the state for leading by passing its own health reform in 2006.
- November 09, 2009 | from Cap Cod Times Bill seeks coverage for autism services State Rep. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover, whose 19-year-old son is autistic, introduced a bill that would require insurance companies to cover treatment for autism at the same level as other physical ailments.
- November 04, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Children’s Hospital, 3 health plans push cost-control effort Children's Hospital Boston has agreed to limit increases in fees it charges the state's major health insurers next year as part of a larger push to control the rise in pediatric health care costs.
- November 04, 2009 | from The Boston Herald Families seek coverage for hearing aids House Bill 910 calls for insurance companies to cover up to $1,600 per hearing aid, which typically cost $2,000 each.
- October 31, 2009 | from A Healthy Blog MA Children’s Mental Health Workforce Capacity: “Who is going to do the work?” There is a workforce shortage among mental health practitioners treating children with mental health needs.
- October 30, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Child mental health workforce may shrink, report says More than half of the mental health professionals who work with children in Massachusetts plan to leave the state or the field in the next five years, according to a workforce capacity report released today.
- September 01, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Somerville health initiative wins kudos A national report highlighting the steps communities can take to improve the health of their citizens has singled out Somerville for its city-wide program encouraging healthy eating and increased physical activity.
- August 27, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Flu derails obesity initiative in schools A state campaign to reduce childhood obesity will get off to a slower start than planned because school nurses and public health authorities are consumed with preparations for the flu season.
- August 19, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Sugar tax is sweet deal for health of children A tax on sugary beverages would at once raise the revenue necessary to support a proper approach to children's health and prevention and improve the health of children by decreasing consumption of such beverages.
- July 29, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Lawmakers set to restore funds House and Senate lawmakers plan to vote today on a spending package that would provide $40 million for healthcare coverage for legal immigrants and at least $2 million for Greater Boston’s two zoos.
- July 28, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Insurers face a push for new benefits Massachusetts legislators this year have filed a flurry of bills - more than 70 in all - that, if passed, would substantially expand the medical services insurers are required to cover for patients but also potentially raise healthcare costs.
- July 24, 2009 | from Kaiser Health News Massachusetts' Individual Mandates, Insurance Exchanges Are Examples For National Plan "Three years into its experiment with near-universal health care, Massachusetts has some 'dos and don'ts' for the nation as it grapples with the best way to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans," the Associated Press reports.
- July 23, 2009 | from Kaiser Health News Massachusetts Could Provide Model To Pay For Reform USA Today reports that three years after mandating coverage for all, Massachusetts is emerging as national model.
- July 15, 2009 | from A Healthy Blog Committee Hears Childrens, Oral Health Bills The Health Care Financing Committee held hearings on key Health Care for All priority bills on children's health and oral health.
- July 14, 2009 | from The New York Times Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All The new state budget in Massachusetts eliminates health care coverage for some 30,000 legal immigrants to help close a growing deficit, reversing progress toward universal coverage just as Congress looks to the state as a model for overhauling the nation's health care system.
- July 11, 2009 | from The Republican Oral exams urged for youngsters The Massachusetts Dental Society is calling for mandatory dental exams for children entering kindergarten as part of a campaign linking oral health to overall health.
- July 10, 2009 | from BNA's Health Care Daily Report Massachusetts Health Care Plan Faces Serious Budget Woes as Revenues Decline Declining revenues and a spike in enrollees in state-subsidized health coverage have put a strain on the ambitious Massachusetts health reform plan enacted in 2006.
- June 09, 2009 | from South Coast Today Agency to expand children's psychological services A $3.4 million Community Service Agency Grant from the Massachusetts Behavior Health Partnership will expand children's psychological services into Acushnet, Fairhaven and Dartmouth.
- June 09, 2009 | from Health Care for All Taking Care of (Unfinished) Business Last session’s victory in passing An Act Relative To Children’s Mental Health did not include the original section on collateral contacts, or coordination of care. The Children’s Mental Health Campaign, working with Representative Ruth Balser and Senator Steven Tolman, reintroduced collateral contacts as stand-alone legislation.
- May 11, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Vulnerable children are suffering twice Just as the need rises for family support and protecting children, the state is cutting back on services through direct cuts, tightened eligibility standards, and restricted access.
- May 01, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Soaring health care costs hobble Bay State families, study finds Over one million Massachusetts residents are in families that are still spending more than 10 percent of their pre-tax income on health care.
- March 25, 2009 | from The Official Website of the Office of Health and Human Services Massachusetts Selected As Part of National Initiative to Increase Coverage for Uninsured Children Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards Massachusetts $1 Million to Help Maximize Children’s Enrollment in Health Insurance
- March 16, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Taking the measure of youth obesity Next month, health regulators in Massachusetts are expected to mandate that, just like in Arkansas, every public school student should be weighed and measured so parents can receive a snapshot showing whether their child is headed toward a serious medical problem.
- February 19, 2009 | from The Springfield Republican Mass. Dental Society lobbies for law to require all children to be examined before entering kindergarten A state legislator from Western Massachusetts joined with dentists to launch a push to pass a bill to require every child in the state to have a dental exam before entering public or private kindergarten.
- January 29, 2009 | from The Boston Globe Health advocates left reeling after hearing budget plan Several key public health programs, including the state's landmark tobacco control initiative, face sharp cuts under the state budget proposed yesterday by Governor Deval Patrick for the next fiscal year.
- January 23, 2009 | from The Boston Globe A quick cure for inaction Using an increased tobacco tax to pay for children's insurance is a healthcare win-win. The Senate should get the bill to Obama's desk as quickly as possible.
- January 05, 2009 | from CQ HealthBeat Coverage Now Nearly Universal in Massachusetts Looking at the state as a whole, health insurance coverage is now nearly universal in Massachusetts, with the uninsured rate dropping from just over 5 percent in 2007 to 2.6 percent in 2008, according to a new survey.
- July 19, 2007 | from The Boston Globe Editorial Bush's unhealthy notions Bush should reauthorize and expand the Children's Health Insurance Program -- and abandon the deeply misguided arguments he has been making against the proposal.
- March 08, 2007 | from The Boston Globe Letter to the Editor We owe children quality healthcare As a Senate Finance Committee member, I wanted to assure all Massachusetts residents that we are already doing everything we can to extend S-CHIP.
- March 06, 2007 | from The Boston Globe New England In Brief Advocates urge children's health coverage Politicians and children's health advocates pushed for renewal of federal funding for children's health insurance in an event at Children's Hospital yesterday.
