Health

Detroit mayor Mike Duggan announced a new program that aims to preserve affordable housing on Monday at Conner Creek Senior Apartments.

The city says the "Preservation Partnership" is meant to renovate apartment buildings that already have low rents and reduce the displacement of low-income families by keeping the rent low. The initiative is part of the city’s Multifamily Affordable Housing Strategy intended to preserve low-income housing in areas at risk of gentrification.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -  Michigan health insurers say they will cover the cost of medically necessary tests for the new coronavirus for people covered under employer and individual health plans. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, meanwhile, announced late Friday the waiving of testing and treatment fees for Medicaid recipients. Michigan currently has no known COVID-19 cases, but infections have been identified in about half of the states. Plans that will waive copays and deductibles for testing costs include Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Care Network, Priority Health, CVS Health, McLaren and Meridian.

As spring breaks wrap up, university campuses across the state are preparing for students and faculty returning from travel abroad with coronavirus anxieties in mind.

Universities are prompting returning students to self-monitor for symptoms. Faculty, students and staff traveling to or from China, South Korea, Italy, or Iran are being told to self-quarantine for 14 days before returning to campus.

Michael Vrooman is the Chief International Officer for Grand Valley State University. He says students there should miss minimal instruction time.

This Saturday is the first work requirement deadline for people with Healthy Michigan Plan insurance, which is provided under the state's Medicaid expansion program. 

A new law requires people to work, volunteer or job search 80 hours a month to keep their Healthy Michigan Plan insurance.

State and county officials say they've been telling people about the Healthy Michigan Plan work requirement for months, with letters, pop-up notices on their insurance accounts online, and the like. 

Michigan is ramping up its preparations for a possible coronavirus outbreak in the state, although right now, no one in Michigan has tested positive for the virus.

Lynn Sutfin is with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

She says the state currently has the capacity to test between 100 and 150 people for coronavirus, should that be necessary.

U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Flint) says President Donald Trump is shortchanging the nation's response to coronavirus, and treating it like a public relations problem instead of a public health crisis.

Grand Rapids and Kent County have formed a new Lead Action Team. The team will help track and respond to cases of elevated lead levels in kids.

About 1 in 16 kids in Grand Rapids had elevated blood lead levels in 2018, according to figures released by the county. That’s down from previous years. And, countywide, the numbers are even lower.

Updated Monday February 17, 2020 at 3:49 p.m.:

Almost 1,500 passengers and over 800 crew members were stuck on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean for two weeks, after fears of the coronovirus prevented the vessel from docking at a majority of their scheduled stops. That changed last Friday when passengers were finally able to disembark in Cambodia. 

Oakland County will try a new approach to providing health services to its un- and underinsured residents.

The plan, called Oakland Health 360, calls for consolidating more services at the county’s two health centers, in Southfield and Pontiac. Those will include a range of health services, including primary care, family planning, dental, and mental health services.

The disease COVID-19, which is caused by the novel coronavirus, continues to spread throughout the world. 

At the moment, the World Health Organization says it appears to be deadlier than the flu, although it may not spread as easily.

A new package of bills in Lansing could dramatically change how the state handles the problem of lead-based paint.

Lead based paint was banned in 1978, but it remains the leading cause of lead poisoning in the state.

A new University of Michigan study finds more Michiganders in the Medicaid expansion program are going to school and getting jobs.

Michigan universities say faculty members and students are returning from trips to China, as the coronavirus outbreak grows worse.

Some schools in West Michigan have been forced to close in the past few weeks because of outbreaks of "flu-like illnesses."

Living in homes purchased at the Wayne County tax foreclosure auction, or near demolitions, increases the risk of lead poisoning in Detroit children.

Those findings are in a new, unpublished report from University of Michigan and Rutgers University researchers.

The state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency is recalling more than 9,000 vape cartridges by a Detroit company.

The state says 8,020 of the cartridges were never sold, and will be destroyed. The other 1,360 cartridges were sold by Plan B Wellness in Detroit.

A Michigan representative is hoping to rally support for federal legislation to rein in prescription drug prices.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint Township) met with patients and staff at a Flint area diabetes clinic this week. He was there to hear their stories and to promote the Lower Drug Costs Now Act.   

The current flu season has turned deadly for two Michigan children.

They are the first pediatric flu fatalities of the current influenza season.

Michigan has recorded its third vaping-related death.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says the unidentified adult male died December 19th.

No specific brand of vaping device or e-liquid has been identified as the source of the severe lung damage. Federal health officials have linked an ingredient (Vitamin E acetate) in black-market THC vapes to some cases of severe lung damage.