State to pause enrollment in health care program for immigrant seniors as spending again outpaces estimates
Latest numbers show costs exceeding budget as implementation of cost-sharing measures lags behind.
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Scammy Medicare ads and unsolicited calls bombard seniors shopping for health insurance. Will federal efforts help them?
New regulations designed to crack down on misleading marketing of Medicare insurance plans face their first big test when seniors begin shopping for coverage on Oct. 15. One minute last December Leslie Montgomery was a medieval warlord pillaging a nearby kingdom. The next she was a retiree drowning in a flood of confusing Medicare sales…
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Hope Village: A new effort is underway to end homelessness in Champaign County.
The 500 sq ft homes will feature a bed, bathroom, kitchen and living space. They will also be spaced out to give residents privacy and ample green space around their homes.
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Buoyed by state funding, new biomedical research hub launches in Chicago
Chan Zuckerberg Biohub part of Facebook founder’s philanthropy.
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Farm-based activities can support mental wellness. Why aren’t there more care farms in the U.S.?
Care farms are agricultural places for people with physical or mental health challenges to process their emotions, while performing farming tasks and working with animals. Participants are able to receive formal or informal care to address things like anxiety, depression and grief. It’s a popular concept in Europe that hasn’t gained as much traction in…
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DCFS director to step down at end of the year after agency hit with another scathing audit
Marc Smith is one of 3 state agency leaders to announce end-of-year departure plans.
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Ozempic hype forces employer calls on obesity coverage
Spending on a new class of diabetes and weight loss medications hit nearly $7 billion in the first half of the year, as people are clamoring for these highly effective drugs. Employer health insurance plans are shouldering the bulk of that financial burden as half of Americans get their coverage through work. “The cost of…
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Champaign County Community Coalition hosts first Black Mental Health conference to dispel stigmas
The Champaign County Community Coalition hosted the first Black Mental Health and Wellness Conference at Parkland College in Champaign on Sept. 30. The goal of the conference, according to the coalition’s website, is to provide awareness, information and solutions to people facing mental health issues and discuss the challenges of mental health in the Black community. Donna Tanner-Harold…
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Reports of sexual extortion affecting UI students are on the rise. Here’s where to find help
University of Illinois Police sent out a safety notice Sept. 22 reporting three incidents of sexual extortion scams. The incidents were reported over three consecutive days and each involved university students engaging with people they didn’t personally know on Instagram. In one case, a student shared intimate photos with a person who then threatened to post the…
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States to reinstate half a million people’s Medicaid coverage after system errors
Thirty states reported that they have mistakenly dropped tens of thousands of people, including children, from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP. In the Midwest and the surrounding region, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio and Nebraska reported that they have not been complying with federal rules to renew people’s coverage after pandemic-era…
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C-U Public Health hopes to ensure access to the COVID booster, regardless of insurance coverage
The new COVID-19 booster shot has rolled out at local pharmacies. The shots were approved earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration and are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for everyone six months and older. All prior COVID-19 shots have been paid for by the federal government. But the end of the federal…
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“This is not an isolated incident.” Decatur school closure exposes gaps in state-required inspections
Decatur Public Schools District 61 only found out it had problems in the two century-old buildings when they brought in a structural engineer in May to look at ceiling leaks and other issues raised by teachers.
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Girls are in a mental health crisis. What can schools do?
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. Shekinah Jackson walked into her first day at Chicago Vocational High School on the city’s South Side convinced she’d spend the next…
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The region is in the thick of “a synthetic drug crisis”
More than 100,000 people died of an opioid overdose nationwide in 2022 and more than two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids. Synthetic opioids are substances that are synthesized in a laboratory and act on the same targets in the brain as natural opioids to reduce pain. In contrast, natural opioids — including heroin, morphine,…
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‘Greener Pastures’ explores farming, climate change and mental health; a life-changing project for the filmmaker
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please know there is help available. Call or text 988.
