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City Councilman Jermaine Reed, Missouri Women's Health, Future Of Free Clinics

The show for April 1, 2012. Click "Listen" to hear the entire show; see below for individual stories.

Free Clinics Adapt To Upcoming Federal Health Law

Free health clinics have long been places to turn to when you don’t have health insurance or any money to pay for care. The federal health law, though, is supposed to expand health coverage to 30 million people. While the law went before the Supreme Court last week, health providers are already gearing up for a surge in patients with insurance.

Freshman City Councilman Jermaine Reed Reflects On First Year
Kansas City’s Third District faces multiple challenges, including a 14 percent unemployment rate, crime and the highest poverty rate in the city. Last year, Jermaine Reed was elected to represent the Third District. He is the youngest councilman ever to have served in Kansas City, Missouri. Enthusiastic supporters said Reed represented fresh ideas and a youth perspective, but before long, he was criticized for being politically naïve and inexperienced, launching a recall effort that was eventually abandoned.

New Report Sheds Light On Missouri Women's Health
Back in 2004, the health and economic status of Missouri women was rated a C- by Women’s Policy Research. Have we made progress since then? A recently released Missouri Women’s report says there is good news and bad news. Women have made gains in the workforce and in higher education, but Missouri women are more likely to live in poverty and still face barriers in employment, education and health care access. The 74-page Missouri Women’s report was a joint project by the Women's Policy Alliance and MU’s Office of Social and Economic Data analysis.

Kansas City Undead On The Web
Lately, zombies seem to be everywhere, from television to right here in Kansas City. Local filmmakers, led by director Justin Parlette, are creating a web-only series called Dead Wait.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
As a health care reporter, I aim to empower my audience to take steps to improve health care and make informed decisions as consumers and voters. I tell human stories augmented with research and data to explain how our health care system works and sometimes fails us. Email me at alexs@kcur.org.
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