With advances in midwifery and a growing culture of self-determination, more women are choosing to give birth at home. Homebirth advocaters are asking how (or whether) law should address the threshold of life.
A research report draws the wrong conclusion about the death rate at rural, critical access hospitals vs. the death rate at large, urban medical centers. The real story would have been if researchers had found no difference.
In an environment where spending cuts are routine and often viewed positively, members of Congress hear how increased funding for Indian health has improved results and likely saved lives.
The federal insurance program is the only player in the health-care game with a pure incentive to control costs. But political resistance keeps it from fulfilling this role. Gradually expanding the program could be the answer.
Medicare cuts from sequestration will cost rural communities 12,000 healthcare jobs. But even bigger problems await rural residents in states that don’t expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Trained for the Frontier Nursing Service, pioneering women combined their skills with longstanding home health practices in the mountains, birthing and healing.
Expanding Medicaid to cover more people will save lives — more than twice as many per year as would be saved by finding the cure for breast cancer. And the effect will be particularly strong in rural America.