Healthy Communities Online

President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law on July 4 and now leaders such as Stephanie Carlton are in charge of implementing it. She’s the deputy administrator and chief of staff at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Carlton and the administration see the law’s benefits because Medicaid reimbursement rates “were allowed to go up to commercial rates and states are at varying levels towards that cap. But as we sat back and looked at…

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ENCORE – Originally aired November 7, 2024 There’s a lot of attention right now around “super agers.” Yet the facts are that current life expectancy at birth is 74.8 years for males and for females it’s 80.2 years in the U.S. Does it catch your eye when you hear about predictions we’ll be able to live to 100 and beyond? Some researchers are throwing cold water on those notions.  “We’ll be lucky if 5% of the age cohort makes it…

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Originally broadcast May 15, 2025 Millions are still living with the effects of Long COVID and new research shows that for older adults, the consequences may be profound and lasting. In part one of a special two-part series on “Conversations on Health Care,” Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin, a neurologist and leading Long COVID researcher at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, shares groundbreaking findings from his global study of over 3,500 patients. His work reveals a troubling connection: many…

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It’s a troubling situation: Nearly one in three high school students report persistent feelings of hopelessness. At the same time, many communities have a lack of mental health professionals to counsel and help young people.Leaders from philanthropy, public health, and private sectors think they have a path to a solution: Youth Mental Health Corps. This program, which launched a year ago, places young adults as mental health navigators in schools and community organizations. These navigators provide peer-to-peer support, connect young people and families…

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Description: Dr. Igor Koralnik, the co-director of Northwestern Medicine’s Comprehensive COVID-19 Center, is one of the world’s leading Long COVID researchers. For instance, he’s been involved in a first-of its-kind study that’s giving experts an idea of how Long COVID affects the body by looking through the eyes. Patients at his center receive coordinated care across 14 different specialties to address the many ways Long COVID affects the body. In the second part of our two-part series on Long COVID,…

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Dr. Leana Wen, a health news commentator for The Washington Post and CNN, is known for trying to have an open view toward untraditional opinions. For instance, she tells “Conversations on Health Care” that the new National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration directors are both “qualified individuals who have credentials from major medical institutions, who have worked in those fields.” She says her hope is that “behind the scenes they will act as tempering force… against the…

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