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Calls to overhaul methadone distribution intensify, but clinics resist
This story originally appeared at KHN. Days typically start early for patients undergoing opioid addiction treatment at Denver Recovery Group’s six methadone clinics in Colorado. They rise before dawn. Some take three buses to get to a clinic by 5 a.m. for a 15-minute conversation with a counselor and their daily dose of methadone, all […]
Wildfires and omicron prompt a special health insurance enrollment period in Colorado
A wildfire displaced thousands of Coloradans just as the omicron surge began sweeping through the state, so health insurance was likely not on many people’s minds when the regular enrollment period for the state’s health insurance marketplace ended Jan. 15. But now, because of those twin emergencies, everyone in the state will get another chance […]
Seeking refills: Aging pharmacists leave drugstores vacant in rural America
This story originally appeared at khn.org. Ted Billinger Jr. liked to joke that he would work until he died. That turned out to be prophetic. When Billinger died of a heart attack in 2019 at age 71, he was still running Teddy B’s, the pharmacy his father had started more than 65 years earlier in […]
How a doctor breaks norms to treat refugees and recent immigrants
“How a doctor breaks norms to treat refugees and recent immigrants” first appeared at khn.org. AURORA — Fatumo Osman, a 65-year-old Somali refugee who speaks limited English, was in a bind. She made too much money at a meal prep service job so she no longer qualified for Medicaid. But knee pain kept her from […]
How one rural town without a pharmacy is crowdsourcing to get meds
“How one rural town without a pharmacy is crowdsourcing to get meds” first appeared at khn.org. WALDEN, Colo. — The building that once housed the last drugstore in this town of fewer than 600 is now a barbecue restaurant, where pit boss Larry Holtman dishes out smoked brisket and pulled pork across the same counter […]