States that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act – like Florida – have done much worse at insuring people of working age than Medicaid expansion states. A study released Wednesday by Families USA found that the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid reduced their uninsured population by about twice as much as other… Read more »
Just after the Planned Parenthood decision in Texas, where a grand jury not only did not indict Planned Parenthood for selling fetal tissue, but instead chose to indict the Planned Parenthood accusers, the attack on women’s rights to control their bodies continued. On Tuesday the Florida House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 8-3 in favor of passing Bill HB865, with… Read more »
By Rob Lorei Today on radioactivity we listen to the latest Florida this week, a news and public affairs show moderated by Rob Lorei that airs every Friday night at 8:30 on local PBS station WEDU. This week’s panel offers political insights on the biggest political issues in Florida: Gov. Rick Scott call for a… Read more »
By Rob Lorei Asphalt roads that can’t be maintained. A gas station that no one used. A soybean farming project in a region that cannot grow the crop. A new interactive project by a team of journalists at Propublica poured over the books and found that the US government has wasted over 17 Billion dollars in… Read more »
Experts from the UN Working Group recently concluded their 10-day study of how U.S women’s rights compare to the international community and the results don’t look too good. Big surprise, right?! Visiting Alabama, Oregon and Texas, here’s what they found: In a global sense the U.S. is behind international standards in public and political representation,… Read more »
Florida has dropped a spot to 33rd worst in national health rankings. A United Health Foundation report published today highlights the things Florida is doing right and wrong and some things the state can do to improve the health of its residents. It’s not all gloomy news for Florida health. The state scores well in… Read more »
State Rep. Jamie Grant (R-Tampa) thinks that Medicaid expansion will be off the table during Florida’s Legislative session that begins in January. For one, Grant says this week’s gambling agreement “sucks a good bit of oxygen out of the time in Tallahassee” to consider other issues. But Grant thinks the legislature will still have time to… Read more »
By Rob Lorei Today our guest is Dr. Darryl Paulson, professor emeritus of government at USF St.Petersburg, to talk about how the state crackdown on pill mills and prescription drug abuse has made it harder for actual pain sufferers to get the medication they need. At one point, Florida was ground zero for prescription drug… Read more »
By Rob Lorei With recreational pot legal in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington and legal medical marijuana initiatives being considered around the country, the cannabis industry is set to becoming a booming business, possibly bigger than the organic food industry, according to one study. We discuss legal issues regarding the commercialization of marijuana is one of… Read more »
By Rob Lorei Today we have the November edition of The Fairness Doctrine, a debate show moderated and produced by Jennifer Sullivan, host of TV show, also host of the TV show On the Table With the Green Party. This episode’s topic of the debate is medical marijuana. Advocates are pushing for a new amendment… Read more »
Mayor Bob Buckhorn has his eyes on the prize and wants to get the uninsured in Tampa signed up for health care. Today President Obama and the Whitehouse launched the Healthy Communities Challenge. It tasks 20 US cities, including Tampa, to boost enrollment in the Affordable Care Act. Mayor Buckhorn already has a plan ready… Read more »
By Rob Lorei A video depicting a South Carolina school resource officer slamming a female student to the ground last week has triggered a national conversation on how educators should handled troubled students. Joining in the conversation with us today are Joe Rutherford and Roaya Tyson from Grace Point, a mental health clinic in Tampa… Read more »
By Rob Lorei This week, the Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald Tribune released the first part of an investigative series into the state of Florida’s mental health hospitals titled “Insane. Invisible. In Danger.”, the result of a year-long collaborative effort between the two newspapers. The project reveals have millions of dollars in budgets… Read more »
After a mass shooting it’s common for analysts to examine the mental health of the suspect. But at a forum Friday hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa, a behavioral sciences researcher downplayed the connection between gun violence and people with serious mental illnesses. Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences… Read more »
Public policies announced by some of our presidential candidates were the topic of discussion on the program. WMNF spoke with David Dayen about breaking down the recent Wall Street Journal report that Bernie Sanders spending plans if elected president would amount to over $18 trillion. In a recent piece in The Intercept,Dayen tears apart that… Read more »
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has returned from what he called a “very worthwhile trip” to Cuba. During a press conference at City Hall Tuesday afternoon, Kriseman said he was blown away by the beauty and the arts in Havana. The St. Petersburg delegation met for two hours with the deputy director for American affairs… Read more »
Florida will have more federal money to reimburse hospitals for care they provide uninsured patients. Politico Florida reports The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has given the state a 60-day extension to spend about $166 million from what’s called the Low-Income Pool (LIP). But that’s going away because the Affordable Care Act instead encourages… Read more »
Today is the 50th anniversary of the medicare and medicaid programs that was passed by President Lyndon Johnson. It transformed health care coverage since its inception in 1965, at time when over half of senior citizens were not insured. We talk about the anniversary with Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a practicing physician and public health professor at… Read more »
Today we listen back on the latest Florida this Week, a political discussion show moderated by Radioactivity host Rob Lorei. On this episode we look at the rekindled ties between the US and Cuba, what’s up with David Jolly’s district seat as he runs for Senate, and recent remarks made by Jeb Bush at a… Read more »
Despite the growing demand for home healthcare as an alternative for the aging US population, home-care workers often struggle to making a living off their wages, which on the low end can be as little as $17,000 a year. Many of these caregivers are joining the growing movement of low-wage workers who are calling for… Read more »
Tampa fast-food workers will travel to Mcdonald’s HQ to protest working conditions
Young Invincibles group advocate for over 300,000 millennials in the healh care coverage gap
WEDU’s Florida This Week looks at the battle over medicaid expansion, Amendment 1 funds, and same-sex adoption
King v. Burwell could push as many as 7.3 million Americans out of health insurance
Governor Scott wants feds to keep funds flowing for low-income heath care
