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The High Price of Low Financial Health Literacy
Read More: The High Price of Low Financial Health LiteracyDo your eyes glaze over when you get a notice from your health insurance company? Do you panic when you get a medical bill or an explanation of benefits (you know, the thing that says, “This is not a bill”)? Would you be lost if you had to navigate the costs of a new or…
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Even After Lockdowns Eased, Pandemic Depression Persisted Across Social Classes – New Study
Read More: Even After Lockdowns Eased, Pandemic Depression Persisted Across Social Classes – New StudyBy Catherine Ettman, Boston University and Sandro Galea, Boston University The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that more than 1 in 5 U.S. adults reported probable depression in both spring 2020 and spring 2021. We also found that financial…
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Medicare’s Open Enrollment Is Open Season for Scammers
Read More: Medicare’s Open Enrollment Is Open Season for ScammersBy Susan Jaffe, Kaiser Health News Finding the best private Medicare drug or medical insurance plan among dozens of choices is tough enough without throwing misleading sales tactics into the mix. Yet federal officials say complaints are rising from seniors tricked into buying policies — without their consent or lured by questionable information — that…
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The Pandemic Has Made It Even Harder for One in Three Americans to Obtain Healthy, Affordable Food
Read More: The Pandemic Has Made It Even Harder for One in Three Americans to Obtain Healthy, Affordable FoodBy The Conversation, CC BY-ND COVID-19 has made food access more challenging for many communities. In Michigan State University’s Fall 2021 Food Literacy and Engagement Poll, 31% of the people we talked to said the pandemic had affected their household’s ability to obtain food. This included 28% of households earning less than $25,000, and 38%…
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‘Down to My Last Diaper’: The Anxiety of Parenting in Poverty
Read More: ‘Down to My Last Diaper’: The Anxiety of Parenting in PovertyBy Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News For parents living in poverty, “diaper math” is a familiar and distressingly pressing daily calculation. Babies in the U.S. go through six to 10 disposable diapers a day, at an average cost of $70 to $80 a month. Name-brand diapers with high-end absorption sell for as much as a…
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Financial Stress Is Making Women Ill, but There Are Ways to Improve Your Wealth and Your Health
Read More: Financial Stress Is Making Women Ill, but There Are Ways to Improve Your Wealth and Your HealthFour years ago, Jennifer Presley found herself facing a financial nightmare. The single mother of two was refurbishing a home in Glen Allen, Virginia, with her boyfriend, a contractor. The two soon realized much of the home was unsalvageable, and things went from bad to worse when her boyfriend was injured on another job, breaking…
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Health Is Infrastructure, Too
Read More: Health Is Infrastructure, TooDuring opening remarks at HealthyWomen’s recent webinar, “Health is Infrastructure, Too: The Impact on Women’s Health Care,” HealthyWomen’s CEO Beth Battaglino said, “As we slowly emerge from the grips of a very long and difficult pandemic, we are at a pivotal moment for women’s health in this country.” Women, she said, continue to face mental…
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Roads and Bridges and Tunnels … and Health?
Read More: Roads and Bridges and Tunnels … and Health?Join us on June 10 for our webinar, “Health Is Infrastructure, Too: The Impact on Women’s Health Care,” where we discuss how the Biden administration’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan affect women’s health care, including what was addressed by the legislation — and what isn’t included in the plans. When politicians talk about…
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1 in 3 College Students Face Food Insecurity – Expanding Snap Benefits on Campus Will Help Stave Off Hunger
Read More: 1 in 3 College Students Face Food Insecurity – Expanding Snap Benefits on Campus Will Help Stave Off HungerBy Anastasia Snelling, American University and Rebecca Hagedorn, Meredith College It’s harder to learn when you are suffering from hunger or searching for your next meal. But while around 30 million K-12 students in public schools are eligible for free or reduced lunch, it is a different matter when they leave. Many of those who…
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Women Frequently Experience Sexual Harassment at Work, yet Few Claims Ever Reach a Courtroom
Read More: Women Frequently Experience Sexual Harassment at Work, yet Few Claims Ever Reach a CourtroomBy Joseph A. Seiner, University of South Carolina Sexual harassment allegations against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including at least three from current or former aides, are a reminder of just how commonplace unwanted touching, propositioning and other inappropriate behavior is in the workplace. My recent research explores the prevalence of toxic work environments –…
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What the American Rescue Plan Says About President Biden’s Health Care Priorities – and What They Mean for You
Read More: What the American Rescue Plan Says About President Biden’s Health Care Priorities – and What They Mean for YouBy Zack Buck, University of Tennessee As millions of Americans receive COVID-19 vaccines, the Affordable Care Act just got a booster shot of its own. After 11 years of existential threat and months after an argument before the Supreme Court, the ACA has been strengthened under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the US$1.9 trillion…
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Living With a Disability Is Very Expensive – Even With Government Assistance
Read More: Living With a Disability Is Very Expensive – Even With Government AssistanceBy Zachary Morris, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York); Nanette Goodman, Syracuse University, and Stephen McGarity, University of Tennessee Edward Mitchell is 34 years old and lives in Jackson, Tennessee, with a spinal cord injury caused by a hit-and-run accident that happened when he was 17. He has plenty of expenses that…
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COVID-19 Scams: Not Even Masks Can Protect Us From This Danger
Read More: COVID-19 Scams: Not Even Masks Can Protect Us From This DangerAfter a year of living under the cloud of COVID-19, there’s finally hope on the horizon, thanks to a new administration and the emergence of several additional effective vaccines. However, the vaccine rollout hasn’t gone as smoothly as we would have hoped. Still, some of the most vulnerable groups — Black and brown people, people…
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Why a Stimulus Package Matters to Women
Read More: Why a Stimulus Package Matters to WomenIf you’re a woman, you probably know what it feels like to juggle work, childcare, housework and your own well-being. It’s a lot all at once. But, what can be even harder is if you no longer have to juggle work as part of your responsibilities, but you still need income. Since the beginning of…
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Choosing Health Insurance is So Complicated, 23% of Workers With Only Two Choices Picked the Worse One
Read More: Choosing Health Insurance is So Complicated, 23% of Workers With Only Two Choices Picked the Worse OneBy Trevor Collier, University of Dayton and Marlon L. Williams, University of Dayton The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Almost a quarter of employees faced with the choice of two employer-sponsored health care plans picked the one that left them worse off financially, even though they offered…
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Shopping Online to Stay Safe During the Pandemic? Here Are 10 Tips For Avoiding Scams
Read More: Shopping Online to Stay Safe During the Pandemic? Here Are 10 Tips For Avoiding ScamsBy H. Colleen Sinclair, Mississippi State University The holiday season is already a booming time for online shopping. The COVID-19 pandemic only increases the likelihood that when people shop this holiday season, they will choose online shopping over brick-and-mortar stores. However, this also means there is likely to be a boom in online scams. Already,…
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Women Risk Losing Decades of Workplace Progress Due to Covid-19 – Here’s How Companies Can Prevent That
Read More: Women Risk Losing Decades of Workplace Progress Due to Covid-19 – Here’s How Companies Can Prevent ThatBy Stephanie M.H. Moore, Indiana University American women have made strides in the workplace over the past half-century in terms of earnings, employment and careers – in no small part thanks to the efforts of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The COVID-19 pandemic risks undoing many of these gains in a matter of months.…