NCHR Author

Letter to WHO Urging the Postponement or Movement of Brazil Olympics due to Concerns over Zika

May 27, 2016. We are writing to express our concern about the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. WHO’s declaration of Zika as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” coupled with new scientific findings that underscore the seriousness of that problem, call for the Rio 2016 Games to be postponed and/or moved to another location—but not cancelled—in the name of public health.

Republicans Seize on Reports Critiquing FDA to Push for Agency Reforms

STAT, June 15, 2016. Has Congress’s watchdog agency just given Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander the ammunition he needs to push a stalled biomedical reform through the Senate? The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday issued two critical reports suggesting that the Food and Drug Administration isn’t properly planning how to keep pace with medical science.

21st Century Cures Act Nears Passage with Little News Media Scrutiny

Health News Review, June 13, 2016. With the exception of STAT News, a few other mainstream media outlets, and some boosterish op-eds appearing in local papers, the news media haven’t said much about the 21st Century Cures Act over the past 6 months. It’s fair to say most Americans are in the dark about that far-reaching bill passed by the House of Representatives last summer and now winding its way through the Senate.

Insurance Coverage Information for Breast Implant Removal

First of all, the original reason for getting your breast implants matters to health insurance companies (as well as Medicare and Medicaid). If your implants were put in after a mastectomy and your doctor believes that removing your implants is “medically necessary,” then your health insurance is legally obligated to cover your breast implant removal. Click here to learn more about your rights under the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 (WHCRA). If the original reason for getting breast implants was for augmentation of healthy breasts, then some health insurance companies will cover your explant surgery if they consider the services to be “medically necessary,” but others will not.

NCHR Strongly Supports OCR’s Efforts to End Sexual Violence in Schools

June 8, 2016. We strongly support the efforts of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to end sexual violence and harassment in schools.