Healthcare
In the movies, villainous health insurers have been a chronic condition
For better or — mostly — worse, Hollywood has helped shape the public's image of the health insurance industry in films ranging from John Grisham's The Rainmaker to the Oscar-winning As Good as It Gets.
Special session underway on spending federal pandemic funds
On Thursday, an Alabama House committee passed a plan to spend about $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act on mostly health care reimbursements, water and sewer infrastructure and broadband expansion.
Gambling Proposals Must Pass The ‘Smell Test’ Before Going To Voters, Ivey Tells Lawmakers
The governor recapped the challenges of 2020, particularly on schools and the economy.
Uneven Vaccine Rollout Threatens To Leave Black Communities Behind
An NPR analysis of COVID-19 vaccination sites around the country found that access is uneven in cities across the South.
Church Fundraiser Forgives Millions in Medical Debt
A Mountain Brook church raised enough money to help pay off medical debt for thousands of Alabama families.
Jeffco Commission Approves UAB-Led Authority for Cooper Green
The Jefferson County Commission approved a resolution Thursday to allow UAB to manage operations at the county's indigent care clinic.
State Attorney General Asks Supreme Court to Rule on Banning Abortion Procedure
Alabama’s attorney general Steve Marshall wants the US Supreme Court to weigh in on restricting a certain abortion procedure.
Alabama Has Nation’s Highest Rate of Cervical Cancer Death
Alabama has the highest rate of cervical cancer death in the country. Black women in the state die from the disease at nearly twice the rate of white women. That is according to a report released today by Human Rights Watch, an international nonprofit.
UAB Breaks Ground on Proton Therapy Center
Construction began Tuesday on a new high-tech cancer treatment facility on the campus of UAB. Proton International at UAB, the product of a partnership between the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Proton International, will be a three-story facility at the intersection of 20th Street South and 4th Avenue South focusing on proton therapy. Proton […]
Why the Design-build Concept Could Boost Birmingham’s Construction Industry
Some new thinking on how architecture and construction firms are organized could make Birmingham an even bigger hub for the construction industry.
President Trump and Alabama’s Economy
We talk about what may happen for Alabama's economy under the Trump Administration in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
What will 2017 Bring for Birmingham’s Economy?
The new year is just two days old but businesses are eager to see what 2017 brings. We talk about what is expected in the Birmingham area economy this year in Magic City Marketplace.
What a President Trump Means for Business
President-elect Donald Trump won the election on a promise to make America the best place in the world to do business. But apart from backing away from trade deals, the specifics of what a Trump Administration would do for the business community are still unclear. We get a sense of what might be coming in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Where Clinton and Trump Stand on Business Issues
We’re less than 60 days from the presidential election. It’s been a roller coaster of a campaign already between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. But there are issues beneath the headlines and we look at some of the issues of importance to the business community in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
What Will 2017 Bring for Birmingham’s Economy?
We talk about what is expected in the Birmingham area economy in this week's Magic City Marketplace.
How the Business Community Sees the Birmingham City Schools
Birmingham City Schools students are back in class for another year. It’s a district Birmingham educators say has made progress in the last few years, but one that still faces a poor reputation in the wider community. We talk about how the business community sees the Birmingham schools in this week’s Magic City Marketplace.
Family Values? Politicians On Maternity and Paternity Benefits For Alabama Patents
Sunday was Mother's Day and the love was flowing around the state and the nation, but there's not so much love for mothers and fathers when it comes to paternity and maternity benefits for Alabama parents. Despite all of our talk about family values, Alabama Media Group political columnist says the United States has family leave laws that are antiquated by even the healthcare standards of third world countries, and Alabama has an infant mortality rate worse than Ukraine. Whitmire discusses the landscape of political morality versus taking action with WBHM's Chris Osborne.
Student Group Helps Alabama Residents Sign Up for Health Insurance
The deadline to sign up for healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act is March 31. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, many of Alabama's uninsured still don't understand how the new healthcare law works. But a group of Alabama college students are trying to change that. For WBHM, Greg Bass takes a closer look at Bama Covered, an organization that's getting Alabama residents signed up for health insurance.
Interview: Michael Saag, M.D., Discusses His New Book
UAB researcher and physician Dr. Michael Saag is know around the world as an AIDS expert. He started working with AIDS in the early eighties, a time when the disease was masked in uncertainty. Since then, he's made AIDS research and improving patient treatment his life's work. This month, Dr. Saag published his memoir "Positive: One Doctor's Personal Encounters with Death, Life and the U.S. Healthcare System." Dr. Saag spoke with WBHM's News Director Rachel Osier Lindley about the book, what it's like to lose a patient and his deep concerns about the U.S. healthcare system.
