Health insurance premiums on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces were announced earlier this week. Nationally, the average rate increase is projected to 22 percent, before accounting for tax credits. However, the rate…
Category: Health
Teen birth rates drop steeply nationally and locally
Teen births hit a new low in 2015 nationally, statewide and in Escambia County. The birth rates dropped by nearly half. New federal data shows nationally there were 22.3 births for every…
Study: April 2014 floods led to increase in respiratory problems
University of West Florida researchers helped author a first-of-its-kind study that assessed the health effects of the devastating flood that struck the Pensacola area in April 2014. Dr. Jason Ortegren, associate professor…
Scott ask Congress to act on Zika
By LLOYD DUNKELBERGER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA With 70 confirmed cases resulting from Florida mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, Gov. Rick Scott traveled to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to implore Congress…
Scott, CDC Chief detail ‘aggressive’ efforts to curb Zika
By LLOYD DUNKELBERGER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott joined the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday in Miami to talk about state and…
Scott: State to offer free Zika virus tests for pregnant women
While in Gulf Breeze this morning, Gov. Rick Scott said the state’s health departments will offer pregnant women free tests for the Zika virus. “I’ve been traveling the state to make sure…
Escambia County has second Zika virus case [podcast]
The Florida Department of Health announced today that Escambia County has its second confirmed Zika virus case. Yesterday, I interviewed Dr. Antonio Crespo of Orlando Health about the virus. Dr. Crespo was…
Medical pot to hit market next week
By DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA Medical marijuana could be available to a select group of Florida patients as early as next week, after health officials gave the go-ahead for…
Pensacola health system ranks 266 of 306 U.S. communities
This 2016 edition of The Commonwealth Fund’s Scorecard on Local Health System Performance assesses the state of health care in more than 300 U.S. communities from 2011 through 2014, a period when…
Charlotte’s Web creators fight for Florida license
By DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA More than two years after lawmakers legalized a limited type of medical marijuana, an administrative law judge heard arguments Wednesday in a dispute about…
Breaking news: Judge sides with Planned Parenthood
A federal judge late Thursday issued a preliminary injunction against two parts of a controversial new Florida abortion law that was to go in effect today. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, in…
VA has wrongly declared more than 4,200 veterans dead between 2011-15
The Department of Veterans Affairs has acknowledged to U.S. Rep. David Jolly (FL-13) that it wrongly declared more than 4,200 people dead between 2011 and 2015, disrupting benefits to veterans and dependents….