Susan Campbell

Recent stories

Families On The Financial Brink Fundraise To Pay Medical Bills

Since June 2012, this has been Farmington attorney Kristen Garlans’ life: her boss died, which eventually resulted in her losing her job; a drunk driver killed a close friend; and a beloved aunt died. And then a nagging health concern turned out to be non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Without a job, Garlans, 33, qualified for Medicaid. She’s still waiting to hear about SSI. Meanwhile, she’s received notice that she could lose her house to foreclosure, and while she finishes her multiple rounds of chemo and follows up with radiation, she can’t work. Continue Reading →

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Gun Violence Needs A Public Health Remedy

After the Newtown school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, President Obama said, “These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.’’

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Health Insurance Exchange Should Be Consumer-Driven

It’s time like these when I miss Jennifer Jaff the most.  Jennifer was the executive director of the Farmington-based Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc., and a member of an advisory committee that is helping build the state’s health insurance exchange, the online marketplace for people buying insurance as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Continue Reading →

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Each Baby: Wanted, Loved And Planned

We’re doing something wrong, but it’s fixable now. For years, researchers have said that among industrialized countries, the U.S. has the highest rate of unintended pregnancies, at 49 percent. Such pregnancies are even higher among poor, low-income, and less-educated women. Intended pregnancies tend to signal a family’s readiness for the huge transition brought by the addition of a new member. Intended pregnancies tend to be healthier, and require less public funds outlay. Continue Reading →

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CT Is “Hell-Yes’’ On Medicaid

Governors in some of the states with the highest rate of uninsured people – including Louisiana, Texas, and Florida – insist they’ll opt out of the Medicaid expansion offered under the Affordable Care Act – or Obamacare. One political website (Politico.com) calls them the “hell-no” states. Continue Reading →

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A New Health Care Landscape For Women

Editor’s note: C-HIT debuts a monthly column by writer Susan Campbell. Susan, who worked at the Hartford Courant for more than 25 years, is an accomplished author having published two books including, “Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl,” which won the 2010 Connecticut Book Award for memoirs. We are pleased she’s joining us – writing on issues of health and safety. You’re welcome to weigh in. Continue Reading →

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