The start of the 115th Congress has focused on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Legislators speak about repealing a policy, about political strategies. 

For me, as a doctor, as Baltimore City’s doctor, it’s about my patients and their lives.

Eight years ago, before the ACA, I treated a 36-year old man, a father of two toddlers. He stopped taking his seizure medications because insurance companies wouldn’t cover him. He had a choice: pay thousands of dollars a month, out of pocket, or ensure that his family had rent and food. As many others would have done, he chose his family, and let his medications lapse.

By the time he was brought to the ER, he had suffered a grand mal seizure. He was unconscious and continually seizing. We gave him medications. We put a breathing tube in. We did everything we could, but he never came out of the coma, and he died.

I think about him and his family when I hear discussions of the ACA. I think about the 40,000 people in my city who would be uninsured if not for the ACA. My patients tell me that they’re scared.

Read the entire story.

Online grocery shopping brings convenience. But if it’s available to everyone, it’s also seen as one way to help people in food deserts get access to fresh food.

...

Maryland’s inclusion earned praise from Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen.

“Unfortunately, 1 in 4 Baltimore City residents live in an area identified as a food desert,” she said. “This pilot will break down barriers and bring groceries to people, saving them time and money.”

Read the entire story.

More than 1200 people died from drug overdoses statewide last year. A number the state already shattered with close to 1500 back in September.

Maryland has seen it’s fair share of deadly wrecks and homicides in 2016, but officials say drug overdoses are now killing far more Americans than both — concerns that continue to grow in Baltimore City.

“This is something that affects each and every one of us,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen.

...

To Baltimore City,  where health officials say there will be right around 500 overdose deaths for 2016. Numbers that are beyond alarming.

“There are more people in Baltimore City who die from overdose than die from homicides,” said Dr. Wen.

Health officials say there are more than 21,000 people who use heroin in Baltimore, and many more who have addictions to other substances. While the total continues to surge, Health Commissioner Wen says so does the use of a drug called fentanyl.

Read the entire story.

Drug-overdose deaths surged to new levels in Maryland during the first nine months of 2016, far surpassing the total for all of the previous year as fatalities related to heroin and fentanyl use increased sharply.

The state health department reported Thursday that the number of overdose deaths for January through September climbed to 1,468, a 62 percent jump compared with the same period in 2015, and the sixth straight year that the figure has risen.

The total for the first three quarters of 2016 exceeded the overall sum for the previous year by nearly 17 percent.

...

Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen said in a statement Thursday that long-term treatment tends to be underfunded.

“Addiction is a disease . . . and must be addressed as any other chronic disease,” she said. “We must both save a life today with acute treatments, like the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone, while also ensuring access to evidence-based treatment.”

The rise in fatal overdoses this year has extended beyond opioids. Fatal overdoses related to cocaine not mixed with other drugs jumped 76 percent to 69, while alcohol-only deaths increased more than 36 percent to 30. The figures for both years represent data from January through September.

Read the entire story.