Category: Affordable Care Act

Affordable Care Act, Awareness, Health, Healthcare Reform, Mental Health, Safety, Specialty Drugs
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LGBT Health Awareness Week 2019

The last week of March has been LGBT Health Awareness Week since 2003. We have explored some of the barriers to healthcare for the transgender community in previous blog posts, but it remains important to bring awareness to the unique healthcare needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and the health disparities that continue to affect the lives of so many Americans.   Experts report that LGBT people often avoid seeking out medical care or refrain from “coming out” to their healthcare provider. This compromises an entire community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who are at increased […]

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Affordable Care Act, Healthcare Reform, Prescription Drugs
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The Donut Hole is Closed!

The year 2019 is here, and there is some good news to those who have had experience with the Medicare Part D “donut hole.” Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the “donut hole” has been on track to close by 2020. Due to the passing of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which stopped last year’s nine-hour shutdown of the federal government, the Part D “donut hole” has actually closed a year ahead of schedule. Medicare, one of the publicly funded health insurance programs for people over 65 or people younger than 65 with a qualifying […]

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Affordable Care Act, Healthcare Reform, Social Media and Healthcare
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State of Healthcare 2018

Healthcare in America and Americans’ access to healthcare have faced changes in 2018. There have been Medicaid eligibility changes, laws proposed and promises made to reduce drug costs, as well as public health concerns highlighted such as gun violence. People in the United States continue to count healthcare costs as a major concern. We at NeedyMeds prefer to remain apolitical, but it is difficult to avoid the partisan nature of the changes in healthcare in America. The effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) was continued with the expansion of short-term health insurance with lower premiums but high […]

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Affordable Care Act, Healthcare Reform
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ACA Open Enrollment

The Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) Health Insurance Marketplace begins its sixth Open Enrollment period today. American healthcare consumers can sign up on the federal insurance exchange at healthcare.gov or through their state marketplaces. Last year there was increased confusion surrounding Open Enrollment due to changes (and attempted changes) made to the ACA under the Trump administration, leading to the U.S. uninsured rate to rise for the first time since 2014 and the largest single-year increase since 2008. Open Enrollment period ran 90 days after November 1 until the end of January during the Obama administration but was cut […]

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Affordable Care Act, Awareness, Health, Healthcare Reform, Patient Assistance
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Women’s Health Week

This past Mother’s Day launched the 19th annual National Women’s Health Week. Led by the US Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health, the goal is to empower women to make their health a priority and raise awareness of the steps one can take to improve their health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends many common measures, such as proper health screenings, staying physically active, eating healthy, and promoting other healthy behaviors. Healthy behaviors include getting enough sleep, being smoke-free, washing your hands, not texting while driving, or wearing a seatbelt, a bicycle helmet, […]

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About Us

Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.