Author: Evan O'Connor

Affordable Care Act, Awareness, Health, Healthcare Reform, Mental Health, Safety
No Comments

LGBT Health Awareness Week 2018

The last week of March has been LGBT Health Awareness Week since 2003. We have gone over some of the barriers to health care for some of 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 beleaguer 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 […]

Read More
Awareness, Health
2 Comments

Gun Violence is a Public Health Issue

In 2016, there were 36,978 deaths in the United States involving guns. This includes 732 children and 3,234 teenagers; 21,386 were suicides and 346 of the events are considered mass shootings (the FBI defines mass shootings as when four or more people are shot and/or killed in a single event at the same general time and location, not including the shooter). Despite disagreements on certain measures among Americans, gun violence can certainly be considered a public health issue in the U.S.   Before 1996, the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) was charged with researching gun violence, much in […]

Read More
Affordable Care Act, Healthcare Reform
No Comments

Open Enrollment by the Numbers

Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) coverage ended across the United States in mid-December, but the last few states ended their open enrollment period at the end of January. We wrote in November about the state of Open Enrollment, and discussed the impacts of confusion surrounding the healthcare law earlier this year. Now that the open enrollment period has ended, we’re able to look at the numbers of people who took advantage and those still left underserved. Even with enrollment period cut in half and other changes enacted by the Trump administration, nearly 11.8 million people signed […]

Read More
Awareness, Health, Heart Health
2 Comments

American Heart Month

February marks American Heart Month in the US.  Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women, affecting Americans of all backgrounds. In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds and someone dies from heart-disease related causes every minute. During American Heart Month, everyone is encouraged to examine their heart health and take charge with heart-healthy behavior. There are a number of risk factors for heart disease. High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, and smoking are major risk factors for one’s heart health. Almost half of Americans (47%) are affected by at least […]

Read More
Awareness, Health
No Comments

Tips for Managing your Weight

Last week was National Healthy Weight Week in the United States. So close to the New Year, many are still chasing resolutions they made – often to lose weight. An estimated 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by the first week of February, so we are offering some tips from our partners at Health Storylines.   Top 4 Tips to Manage your Weight By: Zana Toulany, R.Ph, Director, Patient Experience Health Storylines   It’s the new year, and for many of us, that means new goals.  The most common New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight!  See below for […]

Read More

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.