Article published in Nature Medicine points to the risk of setbacks in research focused on this population. Experts question new rules in Brazil and other countries. Researchers believe that a resolution by Brazil’s Federal Council of Medicine could lead young people to seek out untrained doctors or even self-medicate, putting their health at risk.

About The Study: This cross-sectional study found that considerable variation in price markup exists across hospitals and that high-markup hospitals demonstrated both lower quality and value of care. These findings underscore that high-markup hospitals represent a key initial target for national policy efforts targeting pricing regulation, transparency, and quality improvement. 

About The Study: An estimated 3 of 4 U.S. children relied on publicly subsidized insurance (Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program [CHIP], or Marketplace) or experienced a period without any insurance by their 18th birthday in the post-Affordable Care Act (ACA), pre-pandemic policy environment. Substantial state heterogeneity in childhood un-insurance underscores the critical role of Medicaid policies.

By age 18, three in five U.S. children have enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and two in five have experienced a period of being uninsured, according to a microsimulation model developed by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study, the first to estimate cumulative insurance experience over the full course of childhood, highlights the broad reach of Medicaid and CHIP, programs that have recently undergone significant policy changes. 

The study develops a climate-economy model focusing on three sources of ambiguity: climate sensitivity, climate-related economic damage, and abatement cost-effectiveness. Aversion to climate sensitivity and damage ambiguity increases abatement, while aversion to abatement cost ambiguity reduces it. If the extent of climate change or its damage is believed to be overstated, optimal abatement can drop sharply or even disappear. Perceived relationships among uncertainties can amplify or offset their effects.

A new peer-reviewed study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) finds that eating certain fruits and vegetables can raise pesticide levels in people’s bodies. Participants who consumed produce with higher pesticide residues – like strawberries, spinach and bell peppers – had significantly more pesticides in their urine than those who ate lower-residue produce. The study combined USDA residue data with CDC biomonitoring information to create a “dietary pesticide exposure score” linking what people eat to pesticide levels in their bodies.