BALTIMORE, Md. - A synthetic opiate is responsible for four recent deaths in Maryland. Heroin and fentanyl killed hundreds in the last year but carfentanil is stronger than both and threatens the lives of its users as well as the people who come to their aid.

In the war on heroin, medics are on the front lines. They receive a daily barrage of calls for drug overdoses.

“I bet at this station they get about 10 a day for OD's,” said Rick Hoffman, president of IAFF Local 734 Baltimore firefighters.

Hoffman represents the first responders in the City with the most heroin-related deaths in the state. Three-hundred forty two people lost their lives in the first nine months of 2016.

...

“We know that fentanyl is being trafficked from other countries and being mixed in with heroin and other drugs without the person using the drugs knowing it, so it's possible that carfentanil can also follow a similar pattern and cause many more deaths,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen.

Watch the entire story.

On Thursday, the American Health Care Act passed the House of Representatives by a 217–213 vote, crossing the 216 threshold needed. Under the latest health care plan, premiums would likely increase rapidly for people with pre-existing conditions. Some of those people are kids. One extremely common chronic illness in children is asthma, and those children would probably be affected by a rise in costs as a result of asthma being included as a pre-existing condition, which are no longer covered under the American Health Care Act as they were under the Affordable Care Act. But how much will insurance cost for kids with asthma under Trumpcare?

Think Progress reported that, under the latest Republican health care bill, enrollees could face premium increases skyrocketing into the tens of thousands of dollars. In particular, the Center for American Progress found that people with asthma would face a premium surcharge of $4,340. And asthma doesn't just go away — it can be managed, and triggers can be identified to control them, but asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness in children, and it's not something that can be cured to eliminate those costs. 

TIME also reported on findings that noted people with asthma could have raised premiums under the AHCA. And since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 6.2 million children currently have asthma, those kids would likely face costs similar to the estimate made by the CAP.

#AHCA how do I explain to my 13 year old daughter that she will have trouble finding insurance because she has asthma.

— Jennifer Catron (@jcatron243) May 4, 2017

U.S. News & World Report reported that, under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, neither women or children could be denied coverage or charged more due to pre-existing conditions — including asthma. But that protection is not exactly the same under the AHCA. Instead, according to Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore city health commissioner, "States could allow insurers to set much higher rates for patients who have a pre-existing condition. That's terrifying, because patients could in essence be priced out of coverage." So through no fault of their own, the parents of kids with asthma could face higher costs to have insurance coverage just because their child has a common illness that they can't control.

Read entire story.

The state of Maryland potentially faces a budget emergency if the American Health Care Act of 2017 stands as is.

The proposal cuts federal funding for Medicaid by $880 billion, or by 25 percent, over 10 years.

According to an analysis by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, if the bill stands, Maryland will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to more than $1 billion just to keep Medicaid benefits at their current level. 

According to the DLS, if the state intends to keep Medicaid benefits at current levels, it will need to pay $145.7 million in fiscal year 2020, $696.6 million in fiscal year 2021 and $1.092 billion in fiscal year 2022.

Baltimore City may be affected disproportionally. Health officials said two-thirds of city children there depend on Medicaid, and half of pregnant women use it. Seniors depend on Medicaid for prescriptions, hearing aids, glasses and nursing home care, and it covers treatment for drug misuse.

"Children's health will suffer. Women's health will suffer. Entire families and older adults will not be able to afford prescription medications, and we are going to see a decline in health overall," Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said.

Read the entire story.

In public health, we have a responsibility to fight against injustice to ensure the health and well-being of all those around us. Unfortunately, all the progress we have made could be undone.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal the protections in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This proposal worsens an alreadycritically-flawed piece of legislation that was introduced in March and failed to pass. It will endanger millions of Americans, who will lose coverage for life-saving services. Millions more—including seniors—will no longer be able to pay for healthcare.