Andrea* was one of the most focused people I have ever known. From the first time we met at the Women’s Center at St. Francis […]
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2017’s Best & Worst States for Children’s Health Care
The following are responses I wrote as part of an article on children’s health care by Richie Bernardo in WalletHub, April 2014. The article includes […]
Repeal and Replace is a Women’s Issue
The Republican plan to eliminate or change substantial portions of the Affordable Care Act is likely to have a disproportionately deleterious impact on women. This […]
The Women of Can’t Catch a Break: January 2017 Update
Life is never boring for the women of Can’t Catch a Break. Over the past months they’ve faced serious health problems; they’ve struggled to care […]
Uninsured in Texas, Then and Now
In previous posts, I shared stories of Americans who had been uninsured when I first met them a decade ago and who, in the wake […]
Eulogy for “Junie”
The first time I met Junie I mostly noticed the scars on her face. They were the result of a stove blowing up when she’d […]
Faces of the Newly Insured
Twelve years ago, I traveled around the country meeting individuals and families who were scraping by without health insurance. In 2015 I returned to the […]
The Women of Can’t Catch a Break: Summer 2016 Update
The past six months have been eventful: a birth, a death (see Eulogy for Nicole), a job gain and a job loss, family ties strengthened […]
Jamie Shupe’s Victory Over Binaries Run Amok
On June 10, 2016, a little-heralded court ruling challenged one of the most powerful, pervasive, enduring and taken-for-granted practices in western culture. On that day, […]
Involuntary Hospitalization of Drug Users Is Bad Policy
Note: This essay was originally published in TruthOut, November 19, 2015. I’ve reposted it today because calls for involuntary hospitalization are again popping up around […]
Eulogy for Nicole
By Maureen Norton-Hawk, co-author Can’t Catch a Break. If you were to meet Nicole you would never imagine that she had been battling a drug […]
The Opioid Epidemic? Just the Facts, Please.
Headlines decrying the “opioid epidemic” have been in the news on a daily basis lately. Politicians, public figures and journalists here in Massachusetts as elsewhere […]