Medical Economics (7/15, Shryock ) reports, “Low-income patients are more likely to have their health insurance claims denied and less likely to successfully challenge those denials than higher-income individuals, according to a study.” Investigators “found that patients from households earning less than $50,000 a year — as well as the health care providers who serve them — are significantly less likely to contest denied claims than those with higher incomes.” Moreover, “when they do challenge these denials, they are less successful in reversing them.” The findings were published in Health Affairs.

Related Links:

— “Low-income patients face uphill battle when fighting health insurance denials, Umass research finds,”Todd Shryock, Medical Economics, July 15, 2025

MedPage Today (7/14, Henderson) reports a study found that U.S. “emergency department (ED) visits for cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) among adolescents increased more than 10-fold in recent years, with increases observed regardless of states’ recreational cannabis legalization (RCL) status.” Researchers said that “from 2016 through 2023, CHS encounters among 13- to 21-year-olds increased by 49% per year, from 160.4 per million ED visits in 2016 to 1,968.3 per million in 2023.” Further, “CHS encounters increased by 32.5% per million ED encounters per year in states with RCL and by 49.3% per million per year in states without RCL.” They noted the “overall rate per million ED encounters for CHS was 1,909.5 in states with RCL and 834 in states without RCL.” The study was discussed in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (7/11, Gotkine) reported a study suggests that “adding anxiety disorders as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis in Pennsylvania was associated with an increase in certifications.” The researchers “examined whether Pennsylvania adding anxiety disorders as a qualifying condition to obtain medical cannabis in July 2019 was associated with changes in the distribution of qualifying conditions and the total number of certifications.” They observed “there was a rapid increase in the number of certifications issued per month, from about 11,000 certifications in June 2019 to 30,000 in December 2023, which were mostly related to increases in certifications for anxiety.” Researchers noted that “after the addition of anxiety, 60.26 percent of certifications were for anxiety, while 41.47 and 10.97 percent of certifications were for chronic pain and PTSD, respectively.” The study was discussed in research letter published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Adding Anxiety as Qualifier for Medical Cannabis Increases Number of Certifications,”Elana Gotkine
, Elana Gotkine/i>, July 11, 2025