The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "health policy" ...
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No Small Thing
The Poughkeepsie Journal series “No Small Thing” goes where no other newspaper or media outlet has – it challenges the mainstream medical dogma on Lyme disease. In rigorously documented articles, Projects Writer Mary Beth Pfeiffer concludes that the major actors in this public health scandal -- chiefly the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Infectious Disease Society of America – have minimized and mismanaged a burgeoning epidemic of tick-borne disease at great harm to thousands of infected people. These two powerful institutions have held – in policy and pronouncement -- that Lyme disease is easy to diagnose and easy to cure. It is neither.
Tags: Media coverage; public health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC
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Crooked Teeth
The WFAA-TV investigative series, "Crooked Teeth," reveals a troubling lack of state and federal oversight of the Texas Medicaid orthodontic program, which is designed to help poor children with severely misaligned teeth. The lack of oversight has allowed Texas dentists and their corporations to exploit the health care bureaucracy and garner hundreds of millions of dollars. "Crooked Teeth" also raises questions about other Medicaid reimbursements nationally, including troubling payment policies by one of the nation's largest government contractors.
Tags: orthodontics; Medicaid; teeth; Texas; health care
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"Drinking at Duke"
In this two-part series, Sanette Tanaka examines the alcohol policy and drinking culture at Duke University. The reporter reveals differences in drinking policies between private and public universities, as well as examines the effectiveness of the "new associate dean," who has implemented an "education-based harm-reduction model" in an effort to curb "binge drinking among students."
Tags: alcohol; binge drinking; Tom Szigethy; Stanford; Harvard; Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research; UNC; Wake Forest; National College Health Assessment
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"Insurer Targeted HIV Patients to Drop Coverage"
In this four-month investigation, reporter Murray Waas reveals that the prominent insurance company WellPoint was targeting "policyholders recently diagnosed with breast cancer for the wrongful and sometimes illegal termination of their health insurance." Waas interviews several women whose insurance policies were terminated based on "flimsy or questionable evidence." Similarly, the insurance company Fortis was found to be targeting recently diagnosed HIV patients.
Tags: cancer; HIV; breast cancer; Fortis; WellPoint; insurance; United Health Care; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Obama
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Side Effects
The author examines the conflicts of interest within the medical community and the influence of pharmaceutical companies on doctors and researchers. The series shows the dangerous consequences that come when drug companies pay doctors and researchers to endorse their products. An inquiry by a U.S. Senate committee, as well as policy reform at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health were results of this investigation.
Tags: pharmaceutical companies; drug companies; medicine; conflict of interest; doctors
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"Failed Drug War"
The AP launched an investigation to determine whether or not the policies put into place by the U.S. War on Drugs were working. By using 40 years worth of FOIAed federal health surveys and drug strategies, and by interviewing members of Congress involved in the voting on drug policies, the AP concluded that the drug war has failed. Some sources interviewed for the story suggested that the problem has actually intensified.
Tags: FOIA; drug cartels; Mexico; U.S. War on Drugs; Justice Department; Centers for Disease Control; National Drug Control Policy; Gil Kerlikowske
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"Mercury taints skin lighteners"
The Tribune decided to investigate a tip found in a New York Times story that suggested mercury might be present in certain beauty products. The Tribune tested 50 different skin-lightening creams purchased from various locations around Chicago and found that six contained enough mercury to be banned by federal law. When used over time, mercury can be cause health problems, including kidney damage.
Tags: mercury; skin-lightening cream; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; FDA; FOIA; Mercury Policy Project; EcoWaste Coalition
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DUI Series
This series is a comprehensive look at drunken driving in Colorado. It includes specific cases, recommendation of dealing with the problem, and current policies.
Tags: drunk driving; MADD; DUI; DWI; intoxication; accidents; vehicular homicide; Colorado Court Administrator's Office; Division of Behavioral Health;
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GMA Gets Answers
This series takes a hard look at the problems Americans are facing with insurance carriers, both public and private. In each story, Anchor Chris Cuomo profiles people fighting battles against insurance companies that are denying their claims. The investigators tried to get answers to claimants' questions about why their claims were being denied, even though they appeared to be following their insurance policy rules to a tee. They found that many consumers find themselves enmeshed in a complex and confusing system that allows insurers to wrongfully deny or delay claims with little possibility of penalty.
Tags: disease; genetic test; Medicaid; Insurance; claims; deny claims; public health
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Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform
The series examined each major failure of an eight-year effort to reform North Carolina's mental health system. Among others, the investigation found the state wasted $400 million on ineffective or unneeded services and at least 82 patients in state mental health hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled had died of homicide, suicide, accidents or medical errors.
Tags: mental disability; hospital; North Carolina; mental health; patient; reform; medical care; health policy