Wonks weigh in on AHCA prior to today’s vote; more news of note

March 23rd, 2017 by Julie Ferguson

Today is not only countdown to the House vote when we learn if AHCA passes the first hurdle. The date is significant because it is seven years to the day that President Obama first signed the Affordable Care Act into law, as Louise Norris notes in this week’s hot-off-the-press AHCA: The Aye or Nay? Edition of the Health Wonk Review, posted at Colorado Health Insurance Insider. As you’d expect, many wonks weigh in on ACA/AHCA related matter, but on other health policy issues as well – check it out, Louise always offers a great digest of posts.

Other noteworthy news

The return of Confined Space: It’s with mixed emotions that we welcome the excellent workplace health & safety blog Confined Space back to the blogosphere. It’s a welcome addtion – it’s been on mothballs while author Jordan Barab served as OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary. It has been a boon for the nation’s workers to have Barab working in a position of influence on their behalf, so we are sorry to see that he is no longer in that post, but we can’t endorse his blog strongly enough – an informed voice and a strong advocate for safe workplaces. We’re fans because we view safe workplaces not only as a moral imperative because they are good for employees, they are good for business too. You can also follow Barab on Twitter @jbarab.

WCRI’s facelift: Just in time for Spring, the Workers Comp Research Institute – more familiarly known as WCRI – has launched a fresh new WCRI website, complete with a a fresh new logo. It’s a much cleaner look with simplified navigtion and designed to be more responsive on any device, including phones. We’re also delighted to see that they’ve added a WCRI Blog, a handy way to keep up on what’s new. You can read more about the new site here: WCRI Launches Redesign of Website with New Logo.

Telemedicine: Joe Paduda says that “Telemedicine will be one of – if not the – most disruptive force in workers’ compensation medical care.” Check out Paduda’s interview with Jonathan Linkous, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association.

NIOSH Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program: NIOSH is offering free, confidential health screenings for coal miners in 2017. Screenings will be provided in coal mining regions throughout Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, and Eastern Kentucky. The schedule for Alabama Black Lung Screenings (PDF) has been issued – they begin next week. Watch this site for more information and future screening locations.

More noteworthy news