By Taylor Sisk When you’re a seventh-grader, the world is your oyster. Or maybe it’s your carrot stick. But more probably it’s your Twix. Teaching kids to make their own wiser health choices at an age when everything seems possible – when the notion of charting one’s own path is just taking seed in the […]
Posted inFeatured, Prescription Drugs, State Health Policy
New Tracking System Netting More Meth Labs in 2012
By Rose Hoban State law enforcement agents busted more people cooking up methamphetamine in North Carolina last year, and so far, they’re on track to discover and clean up even more meth labs in 2012. Law enforcement officials dismantled more meth labs in January and the beginning of February than in a similar time period […]
Posted inFeatured, HOUSE Calls
Questions About Gluten and Radon
This week we respond to questions about radon and gluten. Dear HOUSE Calls, Why is radon a problem? Should I get a house tested for radon before I buy it? That is a great question. Radon is an odorless gas that can be produced from the decay of uranium products. It is somewhat more common […]
Posted inFeatured, Health Insurance, Health Reform
Feds Tell NC Insurance Companies to Spend More on Patients
By Rose Hoban Last week, North Carolina insurance companies got word they only have a year to trim their costs and spend more on patients. That was the response to a request filed in September by the state Department of Insurance, asking the federal government to phase in changes to insurance company profits over the […]
Posted inFeatured
Teens Fill Legislature to Plead for Continued Tobacco Prevention Funding
By Rose Hoban More than 350 high school students from more than 40 North Carolina counties jammed the General Assembly building today to give lawmakers an earful about funding tobacco control programs. North Carolina has been running tobacco prevention programs aimed at young people for about a decade, using money the state receives annually from […]
Posted inCost of Care, Hospitals, NC Health Briefs, State Health Policy
Legislators Ponder Hospital Regulation Update
Attorneys and advocates packed a committee room yesterday at the legislature to bend the ears of legislators who have been considering an update of North Carolina’s hospital regulations this winter. Lawmakers decided yesterday to delay action on the hotly contested Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) issue that’s set Asheville’s Mission Health System against some neighboring […]