Erin Kelly

  1. No cuts to health care programs!

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    For the past few months, the super committee has been working to find agreement about how to further reduce the deficit. The goal of the bipartisan 12-member committee was to develop a plan to cut the deficit by an additional $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion (on top of an already agreed to cut of $900 billion) over the next 10 years. The super committee was allowed to consider any methods of reducing the deficit, including cutting vital programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

  2. Public health programs get high marks

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    While CHIP may sound like a snack you would feed your kids after school, it’s actually something completely different. And frankly, it’s much better.

  3. How the uninsured affect the insured

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    If you have insurance, you might not give a second thought to those without it. Think uninsurance doesn’t affect you? Think again. According to a new study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, when there are high uninsurance rates in a community, there are adverse effects for those who are insured.

  4. $400,000

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    During last Monday’s Republican presidential debate, the moderator asked Ron Paul if a man who didn’t have insurance slipped into a coma, should “society just let him die?” While Paul struggled to answer the question, several people in the audience can be heard cheering in favor of the moderator’s suggestion.

  5. Community Health Centers: Healthy Neighborhoods and More Jobs

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been making some important investments in the health of Americans. A few weeks ago, we told you that the HHS allocated $137 million to improve public health by helping Americans quit smoking and by reducing the spread of diseases across the country through the development and distribution of immunizations.

  6. Free Preventive Care: What's in it for you

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    You may have heard that thanks to the Affordable Care Act, preventive services are now offered free-of-charge to people with new insurance plans. And while it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that nipping health care problems in the bud improves public health in the long term, you may have a few questions about how the new policy might benefit you today.

  7. Doctors without borders, indeed

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    You know that things have gotten bad if a group of doctors who got together to provide health services to rural and low-income communities in developing nations has instead set up shop in the United States to help the many uninsured or underinsured people who need their care here.

  8. Money awarded to protect public health

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    The old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” couldn’t be more accurate when talking about public health in America. When we catch health problems early and treat them accordingly, we end up saving lives—and money—in the process.

  9. More kids enrolled means a healthier future

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    There’s no question—the recession has made this a tough couple of years for American families. Kids have felt the economic impact too. A new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that the official child poverty rate, which is a conservative estimate of those living in economic hardship around the country, increased 18 percent from 2000 to 2009.

  10. Jobless find silver lining in health reform

    Posted by Erin Kelly

    What would you do if you lost not only your job, but also health insurance for yourself and your family? Would you dip into your children’s college fund to pay for costly premiums? Would you elect to go without coverage so you could put food on the table? Unfortunately, thanks to the recession, far too many Americans have to face difficult decisions like these.