Helping people find assistance with health care and prescription costs

Be Safe and Healthy in the Summer Sun, Heat, and Crowds

Summer has arrived in the United States. Over the following months, it will be important to protect ourselves from the health risks posed by the sun and heat. Regardless of skin color, exposure to the sun carries many dangers to one’s skin — from wrinkles often associated with aging to freckles, sunburns, benign tumors, or cancerous skin lesions. Exposure to heat can also have many negative impacts on one’s health ranging from a rash, exhaustion, fainting, or even death. During the ongoing and evolving coronavirus pandemic, being in crowded areas — even outside — without appropriate protection measures can pose […]

National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

Minorities in America have unique mental health experiences. Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), and other minority groups experience systemic barriers in daily life that are so unrelatable for white Americans that many refuse to believe they exist. Recognizing the disparities in access and experience of mental health can raise awareness and reduce stigma for vulnerable people.   By nearly any measure, Black people suffer worse health outcomes in America. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to white women. Black children are more than three times more likely to die after […]

Criminalized Abortion Is Still Healthcare

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old precedent of Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the right to abortion based on the 14th Amendment’s Constitutional right to privacy. On June 24, 2022, people in waiting rooms in certain states were told they couldn’t go through with their appointment for abortion — regardless of the time spent in travel, money spent following strict screenings prior to terminating a pregnancy, or risk to lives of parents and their children. Some would have to drive hours out-of-state to possibly get an appointment. Some will be forced to carry their pregnancy to term, […]

A folder labeled "Antibiotic Resistance" with a pen and stethoscope on it, adjacent to red and white pills spilling out of an orange pill bottle.

Antibiotic Resistance – Dangerous and Expensive

Antibiotic resistance is a problem most healthcare providers are aware of, but many patients are not. While I learned about MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) in medical school over 40 years ago, as a pediatrician antibiotic resistance was most evident when my patients returned with persistent ear infections. In retrospect, it was more complicated than I knew at the time. While some of the resistant ear infections appeared to respond to a different antibiotic — many of which were likely caused by bacteria resistant to the initial antibiotic chosen — others did not. It is now known that a lot of […]

The Nation Is Aware of Gun Violence

At the time of writing, there have been 230 mass shootings in the past 151 days in the United States. Just from these mass shootings (events when four or more people are shot) 256 people have died and 996 have been injured. More children have been killed with guns than on-duty police officers. The U.S. has already surpassed the number of children killed in school shootings in all of 2021. Of the 20,726 people shot to death last year only 702 died in mass murder events, signifying that guns cause even more harm than we’re often made aware of. The […]

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.