Latest news with #HealthCare
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Duckworth warns Medicaid cuts will impact 60,000 people in Peoria County
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The Senate budget bill would kick 60,000 people in Peoria County off Medicaid, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said at a Thursday press conference with local health care advocates and Medicaid recipients about the consequences of Medicaid cuts. The Senate's version of the budget bill, released Monday, includes even deeper cuts to Medicaid than the House bill. It imposes stiffer work requirements, while the House version provided some exemptions. 'We are, again, at a tipping point where the health and even the lives of millions of Americans are at risk because President Trump and his heartless Republican cronies. Make no mistake, there's no way to fund Trump's $4 trillion in tax cuts for the billionaire class without putting it on the backs of Americans who are already struggling to pay the bills,' said Duckworth. In the state of Illinois, 3.4 million people depend on Medicaid, including nearly 60,000 people in Peoria County. One of those recipients is Dallas Anne Prentice from Chillicothe, a stay-at-home mom with rare genetic disabilities that prevent her from working. Her prescriptions would cost $2,000 without Medicaid. Right now, she pays $40 a month. She said losing her Medicaid benefits would be a death sentence. 'So the consequences are quite literally, I die. I require my medication and my regular health care to be able to simply function, to get out of bed in the morning. And if I lose my health care, my children lose their mother. I am telling you with all honesty, without Medicaid, I wouldn't be alive today. That's not an exaggeration,' she said. The Senate budget bill also caps Medicaid reimbursements to states, which would then have to pick up the tab. In rural areas like Peoria County, Duckworth said Medicaid covers more than 50% of services. 'So, for states that like Illinois, for example, we were the first state in the country that extended post-natal care for a year. We would have to fund 100% of that, when that was more of a matching with the federal government. And so it's a way to push the costs onto the states, which the states can't fund without saying, oh, we're cutting post-natal care,' said Duckworth. Tracy Warner is, executive director of Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network, which represents 60 small and rural hospitals across the state. She said three in four patients at these hospitals depend on Medicaid or Medicare. 'For these hospitals, Medicaid is not a side issue; it's a lifeline. When Medicaid funding is cut, the impact is immediate and painful. More than 40% of rural hospitals in Illinois are operating at a financial loss. These hospitals are already facing low reimbursement rates, workforce shortages, and rising costs,' she said. Medicaid cuts will push these rural hospitals even further into financial distress, Warner said. Hospitals will be forced to make difficult decisions like cutting services and jobs, which will also impact people who are not on Medicaid. 'That ripple does not stop at hospital doors. When a rural hospital cuts services, local jobs are affected, small businesses lose customers, and patients are forced to travel even longer distances for basic care,' she said. 'So that compounding impact, especially on a rural communities, is very real and very significant to the extent that it will be absolutely devastating not only for health care and health care access, but our economies across the state and across the country as well,' added Duckworth. U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) sent a statement to WMBD defending Medicaid cuts in response to Duckworth's presser. 'House Republicans are focused on strengthening and investing in Medicaid for those who need it most by ensuring the program continues to provide high-quality patient care for expectant mothers, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. To protect Medicaid for future generations, we must establish a common-sense approach to address waste, fraud, and abuse. House Republicans have taken a scalpel approach by enacting work requirements for the 4.8 million able-bodied adults without dependents who are choosing not to work and removing 1.4 million illegal immigrants from the program. I remain committed to supporting rural and underserved communities and prioritizing care for our nation's most vulnerable populations.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Hospitals with most patients on clinical trials to get extra money
Hospitals that conduct clinical trials and offer experimental drugs to the most patients will be given more government funding. Health officials have also announced that patients will have improved access to clinical trials via the NHS app. Clinical trials can take several years and involve testing an experimental drug or process on a small number of patients to determine its safety and effectiveness. The trials may offer a potential treatment to patients with no other options, and this provides invaluable data to drug manufacturers. Trials are an essential part of a drug's lifecycle and allow companies to learn how well their medicine works, any side effects it may have and any unexpected benefits. Data subsequently inform regulators who decide whether to authorise a new medicine for widespread use. Officials then also determine if it is cost-efficient to purchase the drug. But these processes can take decades from invention to authorisation, and, in the meantime, patients who may benefit from a new drug go without access. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) stated on Monday that as part of the Government's 10-year health plan, the NHS will have more closely integrated access to the database of ongoing experiments. DHSC officials have said that people will be able to search the NHS app for trials. It is hoped that in future, patients may receive notifications on their phone if they are a good fit for certain trials. It comes as upgrades to the NHS app will allow millions more people to receive appointments, reminders and test results there. Trusts are set to be graded on how well they perform clinical trials, and their ability to get patients enrolled, with the use of new league tables. It is understood that trusts performing the best will be prioritised for further government investment. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has previously said that NHS managers who perform poorly in such league tables would face the sack. On Sunday, he said: 'The UK has been at the forefront of scientific and medical discovery throughout our history. One country will lead the charge in the emerging revolution in life sciences, and why shouldn't it be Britain? 'The 10-year plan for health will marry the genius of our country's leading scientific minds, with the care and compassion of our health service, to put NHS patients at the front of the queue for new cutting-edge treatments. 'The NHS app will become the digital front door to the NHS, and enable all of us as citizens to play our part in developing the medicines of the future.' Covid-19 vaccine trials At the height of the pandemic in 2020, the Government launched the NHS Covid-19 Vaccine Research Registry, which saw more than 100,000 Britons volunteer for trials of experimental jabs in a bid to speed up the discovery and testing of potential vaccines. This allowed people to be vaccinated before the mass rollout, and data from their inoculation and recovery were vital in finding which jabs performed best. Mr Streeting said: 'The British people showed they were willing to be part of finding the vaccine for Covid, so why not do it again to cure cancer and dementia? 'By slashing through red tape and making it easier for patients to take part, reforms in our 10-year plan will grow our life sciences sector, generate new funds for the NHS to reinvest in front-line care and benefit patients through better medicines.' This Covid-19 clinical trial initiative was spearheaded by Dame Kate Bingham, the then-head of the vaccine task force, who had extensive experience in clinical trials and drug discovery. The former vaccine tsar told The Telegraph that this latest step by DHSC and the NHS could have a huge economic benefit for the UK. She said: 'This is a welcome step in supercharging the UK's national clinical trials capabilities. With universal NHS numbers and digital reach via the NHS app, the UK is uniquely positioned to lead. 'Theoretically, it has the potential to massively accelerate the growth of the UK life sciences sector.' Dame Kate petitioned for the vast NHS database of patient data to be better leveraged after the pandemic, following the success of the vaccine initiative. But she warned that the entire plan could be undermined by penny-pinching in Whitehall. The UK pays poorly for new medications compared to other markets, she said, and therefore, drug manufacturers will likely prefer to run trials in countries that are willing to spend more money. This could result in British patients never being offered experimental drugs in the first place, as trials are run abroad. Dame Kate, who is also the managing partner of DV Health Investors, told The Telegraph: 'There is a risk that pharma companies will not run clinical trials on innovative drugs here in the UK if there is no prospect of patients ever getting access to those drugs. 'They will question whether it is ethical to do so. The UK pays some of the world's lowest prices for branded medicines, and under VPAG – where companies must pay back a percentage of branded drug revenues [this year a rebate of 23 per cent], the model risks making the UK commercially untenable.'
CBC
13-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
Nova Scotia's primary care waitlist down slightly
The Nova Scotia Health Authority is reporting a slight drop in the number of Nova Scotians on the Need a Family Practice Registry. But the number still tops 91,000. The figure for June 1 is 91,423, a decrease of 51 from the May report. The latest numbers were issued on Friday. There were 2,208 people removed from the list from April 1 to May 1 because they were connected to a provider or confirmed by the health authority that they have a provider. The current percentage of the population on the registry is 8.6 per cent.
CBC
12-06-2025
- CBC
As Toronto teen lay dying, witness says health centre ignored cries for help
Moments after he was shot in Toronto's Weston neighbourhood Saturday night, a teenage boy lay bleeding out in front of a local health-care centre — and one witness says her repeated cries for help at the facility's front door were ignored. Now, Dacota Carriere says she is speaking out to draw attention both to the lack of assistance the teen — identified by police Wednesday evening as Jakhai Jack — received at West Park Healthcare Centre, and to join other witnesses in lamenting long 911 wait times that night as the life slipped from the 15-year-old's body. "The boy was fighting up until his last moments," Carriere told CBC News Wednesday. "I truly believe if first responders had come immediately when they were needed, or he got the attention he needed right away, I truly believe he would have survived with the amount of fight he had in him." Carriere was at the health-care centre at 170 Emmett Ave. Saturday night around 10 p.m. She and some friends, who are car enthusiasts, were taking photos of their vehicles in the parking lot because of its recently renovated lighting. The University Health Network-run facility is not a hospital, but instead provides specialized rehabilitation care after life-altering illness or injury like amputation, stroke and lung disease, according to the UHN website. A spokesperson told CBC News in an email the facility doesn't have emergency care facilities and during evening hours nurses provide care to inpatient units, while doctors are on call but not routinely on site. "Should there be an emergency on the property, our first response would involve the attendance of security personnel and/or a call to 9-1-1," Ana Fernandes said in a statement. WATCH | Neighbour recounts trying to help shooting victim: Neighbours say they were on hold for several minutes while shooting victim was still alive 2 days ago Duration 2:35 Carriere said she and her friends were hanging out in the parking lot when they first heard five gunshots in the distance. Shortly after, a young male came running past and said he had been filming a music video down the street when a shooting happened. He asked for a ride, but the crowd declined without knowing if the situation was safe, and the male ran off, she said. Then, about five minutes later, a grey Nissan abruptly pulled into the parking lot with an injured teen in the back seat. Cries for help ignored The driver and two other teens got out and pulled the injured boy onto the ground. The driver said he didn't know the boy and then drove away, Carriere said. A neighbour previously told CBC News that he had helped get the victim into a vehicle so that he could be driven to a nearby health facility. Panic broke out, and Carriere and her friends started pulling microfibre towels out of their trunks in an effort to stop the bleeding. While the boy's friends applied pressure to his chest wound, she ran to the front door of the health centre hoping to find help. "I understood that it was a health-care centre and not a hospital who has an emergency department — but still, putting two and two together, there has to be nurses there," Carriere said. "I see nurses in the lobby, I see security guards. I even made eye contact with many of them. And despite me clearly being in distress, none of them — not one — came outside to help." Fernandes, UHN's spokesperson, referred questions about the situation to Toronto police, citing the ongoing investigation. "UHN joins the community in expressing our deepest condolences to the young man's family and loved ones mourning this heartbreaking loss," she said. Emergency crews arrive One of Carriere's friends was eventually able to wave down a passing police car, and emergency crews arrived soon after, she said. Toronto police confirmed Wednesday that paramedics transported Jack from the health-care centre to a trauma centre on Saturday night, where he was later pronounced dead. No suspect information has been released. Jack was still conscious, talking, and trying to stand when he was first dropped off at the health centre, Carriere said. "He had honestly a surprising amount of energy," she said. But by the time Jack was loaded into an ambulance, he appeared to be unconscious. "His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. He was no longer moving, but the police informed us when they loaded him in the ambulance that he was still breathing," she said. City to review incident Carriere said that days later, she still can't stop thinking about the incident — compounded by the fact that she was also stuck on hold with 911 for several minutes that night. A neighbour previously shared a similar story with CBC News. "I believe the aid to this boy was primarily by bystanders, which saddens me, especially because we are right outside a health-care centre," she said. In a statement, Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told CBC News that the first call about gunshots linked to this incident came in at 10:01 p.m. Saturday night after waiting on hold for six minutes and 43 seconds. Emergency responders found the boy by 10:11 p.m., she said. "This was too long, and we're not suggesting otherwise. But it's also important to understand the broader context," Sayer said, adding that "major incidents" can cause a surge of 911 calls about the same event and cause "temporary delays" in the call queue. Toronto police's 911 communications centre is the busiest in Canada, Sayer said, and police are trying to improve response times through hiring and modernizing its systems. So far this year, the average wait time to reach an operator is one minute and two seconds, according to police. "We understand the concern and are committed to ensuring that emergency calls are answered and actioned as quickly as possible," Sayer said. City of Toronto officials have pledged to review the emergency services response in the wake of the incident.
CBC
11-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
All aboard: Health P.E.I.'s newest dental clinic is coming to you this summer
Health P.E.I. is rolling out a new mobile dental clinic. The large RV-style clinic has two treatment rooms and an X-ray machine. Officials say it could be a gamechanger for getting dental care to vulnerable people. CBC's Connor Lamont has the story.
