Health insurance premiums rose nearly 3x the rate of worker earnings over the past 25 years

Health insurance inflation is a problem for almost everybody

Vivian Ho, Rice University and Salpy Kanimian, Rice University

Health insurance premiums in the U.S. significantly increased between 1999 and 2024, outpacing the rate of worker earnings by three times, according to our newly published research in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Premiums can rise if the costs of the medical services they cover increase. Using consumer price indices for the main components of medical care – such as services provided in clinics and hospitals as well as administrative expenses – based on federal data and data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, we found that the cost of hospital services increased the most, while the cost of physician services and prescription drugs rose more slowly.

Some of the premium increases can be attributed to an increase in hospital outpatient visits and coverage of GLP-1 drugs. But research, including our own, suggests that premiums have rapidly escalated mostly because health system consolidation – when hospitals and other health care entities merge – has led hospitals to raise prices well above their costs.

Foreign Food Safety Inspections Hit Historic Low After Trump Cuts

Despite Trump tariffs, we still buy lots of imported food, especially what we cannot grow ourselves

By Annie Waldman and Brandon Roberts for ProPublica

American inspections of foreign food facilities — which produce everything from crawfish to cookies for the U.S. market — have plummeted to historic lows this year, a ProPublica analysis of federal data shows, even as inspections reveal alarming conditions at some manufacturers. 

About two dozen current and former Food and Drug Administration officials blame the pullback on deep staffing cuts under the Trump administration. The stark reduction marks a dramatic shift in oversight at a time when the United States has never been more dependent on foreign food, which accounts for the vast majority of the nation’s seafood and more than half its fresh fruit.

The stakes are high: Foreign products have been increasingly linked to outbreaks of foodborne illness. In recent years, FDA investigators have uncovered disturbing lapses in facilities producing food bound for American supermarkets. In Indonesia, cookie factory workers hauled dough in soiled buckets. In China, seafood processors slid crawfish along cracked, stained conveyor belts. Investigators have reported crawling insects, dripping pipes and fake testing data purporting to show food products were pathogen free.

Brain Drain at the EPA

It’s not just “science-based” that’s banned, but also scientists

By Lisa Friedman, The New York Times, and Marina Affo and Derek Kravitz, ProPublica

This article is a collaboration with The New York Times.

More than 700 people have left the Environmental Protection Agency since President Donald Trump took office, a wave of departures that puts the administration nearly a quarter of the way toward its goal of shrinking the agency to levels last seen during the Reagan administration.

Of the employees who have quit, retired or taken a buyout package since the beginning of the year, more than 200 are scientists. An additional 96 are environmental protection specialists, a broad category that includes scientists as well as others experienced in investigating and analyzing pollution levels. Nine department directors have departed the agency as well as dozens of attorneys and program managers. Most of the employees who have left are not being replaced.

The departures reflect poor morale and a sense of grievance at the agency, which has been criticized by Trump and top Republicans in Congress as bloated and guilty of regulatory overreach.

That unease is likely to deepen following revelations that Republican campaign operatives were using the Freedom of Information Act to request copies of emails from EPA officials suspected of opposing Trump and his agenda.

Departures vs. Hires at EPA
(January - September 2017)

When your food bites back

New Health Department reports on local food establishments

By Will Collette

This is the latest in the on-going series in Progressive Charlestown covering food health and safety, drawing on inspections by the RI Department of Health. This article covers the first quarter of 2015, January through March. For coverage of earlier reports, click here. To check a food establishment yourself on the Health Department’s database, click here. 

The state just set up a new service where you can sign up for e-mail alerts to let you know when your favorite restaurants have been inspected. Click here.

There are around 7,300 food establishments in Rhode Island and 19 Health Department food inspectors. Two of those food inspectors are supposed to cover almost 600 restaurants and food stores just in the three towns of Charlestown (94) and neighboring Westerly (315) and South Kingstown (186).

Each of the 19 inspectors is expected to cover around 400 sites. According to the Department, they focus their efforts on “the highest-risk facilities.”

Health Department Inspectors cite over 100 violations at local food establishments

Some local favorites get dinged for health and safety violations

By Will Collette

Get out your barf bags, boys and girls, as we take another look at Health Department inspection reports on area eating establishments. This is a regular Progressive Charlestown feature and you can see all the articles we’ve done by clicking here. You can check out any food establishment (restaurant or food market) on the RI Health Department database for yourself by clicking here.

This batch of inspections were conducted during late September through December. I took a look at all of Charlestown’s listed establishments plus a sampling of Westerly and South Kingstown eateries. 

In my last report, I expanded to include our new state Representative Flip Filippi’s Ballard’s Inn on Block Island, which has quite a colorful health and safety track record. It’s off season so they weren’t inspected in the last quarter of 2014.

In this installment, we’ll look at twenty local establishments. As usual, I have cut-and-pasted in their most recent inspection reports at the end of this article, which is what makes this longer than the usual Progressive Charlestown piece.

In Charlestown:

• Charlestown Rathskeller – one inspection, five violations. That’s in addition to 13 other violations it has drawn since it reopened in September 2013.
• Downey-Weaver Post – seven violations. They had 10 other violations between 2012 and 2013.
• Famous Pizza of Charlestown – eight violations. They had 22 earlier violations.
• General Stanton Inn – one inspection, no violations.
• Kingston Pizza – one inspection, five violations. They have an additional 72 violations on their record, the highest number in Charlestown.

In South Kingstown:

• Cap’n Jack’s – one inspection, 14 violations. Their record with the Health Department shows another 70 violations.
• Estia – one inspection, six violations. They have 44 early black marks on their record.
• Matunuck Oyster Bar – one inspection, six violations. Sixteen earlier violations.
• The Mews – four inspections, six violations, including selling contraband fish. They have sixty earlier violations.
• Shogun – Five inspections (they’ve had problems) and six new violations. The first three in the quarter were clean, but the two most recent were not. They had 37 violations in 2013 and the first part of 2014.
• South County Hospital (cafeteria) – one inspection, six violations. Not a good thing in a hospital.
• South County Hospital (coffee shop) – two inspections, the first clean, the second with three violations.
• Trattoria Roma – one inspection, 18 violations. They have 29 prior violations.

In Westerly:

• Corner Thai – one inspection, four violations.
• Guytannos – one inspection, five violations.
• New China Pavilion – three inspections. One was clean, the other two not so much with 23 violations. This is one of my favorite local Asian places mainly because they are usually clean, but these latest inspections are not good.
• Shelter Harbor Inn – one inspection, seven violations.
• Westerly Hospital cafeteria – one inspection, two violations

So what do you do with information like this?

The purpose of Health Department inspections is to protect public health and safety and it’s great that they have a public database you can use to get information for yourself.

Now you have to decide what to do with it.

Did Blake Filippi bring the cookies to the CCA coronation party?

Health Department inspections at our new state Representative’s business flags food safety problems

By Will Collette

When the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA Party) posted its invitation for people to attend the November 17 swearing in of its newly elected or re-elected Charlestown Town Council members, they made a point of noting that cookies were going to be served.

They also had Rep.-elect Blake Filippi (I-Militia), as well as Sen.-elect Elaine Morgan (R) attend and administer the oath of office. Besides the issues with the oath-giving (click here), I hope they didn’t ask Filippi to supply the advertised cookies especially after I saw the Health Department reports on the Filippi family business on Block Island, Ballard’s Inn.

I have regularly provided readers with run-downs on RI Health Department inspection reports. After looking up Ballard’s record, I’ll be adding them to the regular list as well because I found that Ballard’s was dinged with thirty food safety violations, some of them pretty nasty, just since last June.

Given Ballard’s history of failing to pay its workers the wages they are due, it’s not surprising that they have a food safety problem. Underpaid workers are not very motivated to bust their asses for the boss.

Ballard’s also appears to be a chronic offender, and many of its violations are repeats for such things as filthy meat slicers, storing food at unsafe temperatures, sloppy food handling and potential contamination. In addition to the 30 violations since June, they were cited for 15 violations in 2013 and 41 violations in 2012. 

That's a total of 86 food safety violations in the past two and a half years.

As aways, I have pasted in the inspector reports verbatim from the Health Department’s website below.

During his successful campaign against Rep. Donna Walsh (D), Filippi claimed he runs Ballard’s making him a job creator, so maybe he can explain this record and whether he is committed to public health and safety.

Or will his libertarian Tenth Amendment colors come out and will he try to use his new position as state Representative to curb those jack-booted Health Department inspectors? We’ll find out soon after he gets sworn in next January.

Keep reading to see Ballard’s record of inspection reports for the past three years for yourself.

How clean are local food establishments?

State Health Department tells who might be trying to kill us
By Will Collette

For more cartoons by Dan Piraro, click here.

Charlestown’s declared policy, called the “Slattery Doctrine,” calls for any outside government agents who come to Charlestown to conduct their work, to notify the town in advance and get permission. I’m not making this up – this is what the Town Council expects.

Nonetheless, state Health Department food inspectors came into Charlestown, South Kingstown and Westerly to try to make sure that none of the almost 600 food establishments in those three towns poison their customers. 

They take a few at a time. In the past three months, they conducted twenty-one food inspections of eighteen establishments in Charlestown alone.

This is the ninth in an on-going series of Progressive Charlestown articles that track how well local food establishments do when RI Health Department inspectors swoop in with temperature gauges and germ-o-scopes. In this installment, I cover reports from inspections done in July, August and September.

I looked at the inspection reports for all 93 Charlestown listings but only did a sampling, mostly places I know, in Westerly and South Kingstown. You can do your own search of any establishment in the state through the Health Department’s website. Only a percentage of Charlestown’s establishments were inspected during July, August and September, but probably the most I’ve seen in any three month period – a total of 18 establishments.

LOTS of violations. Many of them are repeats. In my opinion, when an establishment has had several bad inspections in a row, I don’t want to eat there until they’ve had at least a couple of clean inspections in a row. That's why I won't eat sushi in South Kingstown.

Read the inspection reports, cut-and-pasted below and decide for yourself. Some violations made me cringe; others struck me as minor or simply technicalities. I also did a count on the total number of violations (in most cases, going back to 2007) and included links to the Health Department database so you can see their current record in context. Judge for yourself. 

In this article, you’ll see reports on…

IN CHARLESTOWN

• Charlestown Rathskeller – In August, they had their first clean inspection since they re-opened. But they were inspected again on October 9 and drew five violations. That brings their total to 20 violations since they re-opened just over a year ago. Click here to see their whole record.
• The Cove – Eight violations. That brings their total number of violations in the Health Department database to 43. Click here to see their whole record.
• CVS – clean inspection.
• Happy Acres – two violations. Their cumulative record is twelve violations. Click here for their whole record.
• Hitching Post – clean inspection.
• Hungry Haven. Ten violations. That brings their total record up to 44 violations.
• Hungry Haven mobile unit at Ninigret. 1 violation.
• Johnny Angels – four violations. Their total record lists 17 violations.
• Johnny Angels mobile unit – clean inspection.
• Kingston Pizza – five violations. Their total record now stands at a grand total of 79 violations, the highest number I have seen in Charlestown.
• Meadowbrook Inn – They had a clean inspection on September, but on a follow-up on September 17, they were dinged with seven violations. That brings their total record to 19 violations.
• Mini-Super – thirteen violations. They are a repeater with 44 violations in the Health Department database. Click here to see their whole record.
• Old Wilcox Tavern – seven violations. That brings their total record to 37 violations.
• Peaches Fruit Stand – clean inspection.
• Rippy’s market – Four violations. Their total record now stands at 38 violations.
• Charlestown Senior Center – clean inspection.
• Shelter Harbor Golf Club – two inspections. The first, on August 5, drew seven violations. The follow-up, on August 14, was clean.
• The Willows - two violations for a total of 15 violations since 2007.

Grab the barf bags

Here come the latest Health Department inspection reports

GIF by http://www.gif-weenus.com/

By Will Collette

There’s an unspoken but very real contract between food establishments and their customers. 

In return for taking our money, food establishments will provide us with the food we order, minus germs and contamination. We count on those food establishments not to poison us. 

We also count on government food inspectors to make sure the food we eat is safe.

This is the eighth in an on-going series of Progressive Charlestown articles that track how well local food establishments do when RI Health Department inspectors swoop in with temperature gauges and germ-o-scopes. In this installment, I cover reports from inspections done in May, June and most of July.

Since I started this series, I’ve looked at just about all food establishments in Charlestown and also took a biased sampling of places I sometimes frequent in Westerly and South Kingstown.

Sometimes I wish I had not started this because it’s caused me to think twice about some favorite spots. It’s totally put me off on ordering sushi in South Kingstown where it seems there are way too many violations at the town’s sushi specialists.

That's the kind of choices we have to make for ourselves. If you choose to look at who got nailed for health violations in our area, you may want to re-think your choices. On the other hand, you may look at some of the violation write-ups and decide that it’s no big deal.

Regrettably, a lot of the food establishments cited with recent violations are repeat offenders. In my opinion, when an establishment has had several bad inspections in a row, I don’t want to eat there until they’ve had at least a couple of clean inspections.

In this article, you’ll see reports on…

Restaurant inspections in March and April show more problems at local eateries

Germophobes beware

By Will Collette

If you are getting sushi in South Kingstown, let your cat be your food tester

If you are a germophobe – afraid of germs – and like to go out to eat, you should probably never read the RI Department of Health inspections on food establishments.

This is the seventh in an on-going series of Progressive Charlestown articles reporting on those inspections. One thing I’ve noticed is that when a Health Department inspector comes to call, he or she will usually cite the establishment for violations. But not always, so a clean inspection is always worthy of note.

My other big takeaway is that if you are a sushi lover, as I am, and you order sushi in South Kingstown, you should probably ask them to cook it before they serve you. Sad to say, there are two more bad South Kingstown sushi reports in this installment. 

In the past, I have reported on the on-going sanitation issues at what used to be my favorite local sushi joint, Kabuki in Wakefield. This time, Kabuki is not on the list, but I think that’s only because the Health Department did not inspect them in March or April.

Health Department inspects local food establishments

Checking out health and safety inspection reports for January and February

For more from Dan Piraro's Bizarro, click here

By Will Collette

Keeping customers safe when they visit local restaurants or food markets is a big job. Just in Charlestown, Westerly and Wakefield, there are almost 600 food establishments listed in the Health Department’s inspection report database, 93 in Charlestown alone. Inspecting them is a daunting job for the Department’s small crew of inspectors.

This is the sixth in an on-going series of Progressive Charlestown articles that track how well local food establishments do when inspectors swoop in with white gloves, thermometers and magnifying glasses. 

For some, like the Charlestown Senior-Community Center and McQuade’s Market in Westerly, the inspections go very well and they get a clean inspection report.

For others, not so good. Among those local favorites who had disappointing inspection reports are the Shelter Harbor Inn, the Breachway Grill and Matunuck Oyster Bar. I have every hope that they will take the necessary steps to return to the high standards they are known for.

While I did look thoroughly at Charlestown food establishments, I only did a very biased sampling of Westerly and Wakefield. I was especially interested in those spots that did poorly in prior inspections. 

A prime example is the high-end sushi restaurant, Kabuki in Wakefield. From March through December, Kabuki racked up 42 violations, most of them of the type you do not want at a sushi place. They were inspected again in January and were dinged with five more violations.

If you are concerned about food safety, you can check out any Rhode Island establishment by clicking here for the Health Department database. Then make your own decisions about your risk tolerance. It’s your health and your food dollars.

In this sixth installment, I cover January and February inspections at:

• Cumberland Farms, Charlestown (2 violations)
• Famous Pizza, Charlestown (6 violations)
• Michael’s Foodmart, Charlestown (12 violations)
• The Breachway Grill, Charlestown (10 violations)
• The Charlestown Senior/Community Center (clean report)
• McQuade’s Market, Westerly (clean report)
• Shelter Harbor Inn, Westerly (2 inspections and 12 total violations)
• Kabuki, Wakefield (5 violations)
• Matunuck Oyster Bar, Wakefield (8 violations)

For your convenience, I cut-and-pasted the actual on-line reports for these establishments

Eat safe, read the inspection reports

November and December inspections show mixed results for area food establishments.

By Will Collette

This is the fifth in an on-going series of Progressive Charlestown articles that track how well local food establishments do when inspectors swoop in with white gloves, thermometers and magnifying glasses. I’ve tried to keep up with all 93 establishments listed for the 02813 zip code in the Health Department database, plus a sampling of other popular spots around the area. This article covers inspections done in November and December 2013.

You can use this database to check any business anywhere in Rhode Island that serves or sells food. I would urge you to use your own good judgment and common sense when evaluating your choice of where to spend your food money. I generally have lower expectations for places that offer cheap eats than I do for fancy joints with high prices, though you’d be surprised at how some high-priced establishments have had alarming inspection results. You’ll see one prime example in this article.

In this article, I cover:

Charlestown:

• Charlestown Rathskeller
• Downey Weaver Post #34
• General Stanton Inn
• Kingston Pizza

Westerly (which has an amazing 309 food establishments):

• Dunn’s Corner Pizza
• Haversham
• Ocean House
• Wal-Mart

Wakefield:

• Belmont Marketplace
• Cap’n Jacks
• Hanson’s Pub
• Kabuki

Recent Health Department inspections find problems at local food establishments

Sorry to spoil your meals: Charlestown area food inspections

By Will Collette

This is the fourth article I've done this year on what the Rhode Island Health Department food inspectors found at some area food establishments. There are over 500 spots from Wakefield to Westerly under the Health Department’s jurisdiction. 

In my series, I've focused primarily on Charlestown sites, plus those nearby that interest me. To check on your favorite eating place, go to the Health Department’s easy-to-use database by clicking here. Click here for all four articles.

This installment covers inspections done in September and October. Look at my earlier articles (click here) for earlier inspection results. In this article, I’ll cover the Rathskeller, the Mini-Super, the Nordic Lodge, Hungry Haven and Peaches. All of them had recent inspections.

I’ll also cover Rhody Joes, Kabuki and Hanson’s Pub in Wakefield and Vetranos in Westerly.

Latest Health Department Inspection reports

Some local establishments need to do some cleaning. Badly.

By Will Collette

This is the third installment of Progressive Charlestown’s periodic reports on the cleanliness of some of our favorite local eating establishment. 

In this installment, I’ll cover reports done by Health Department inspectors since my last article in mid-July.

You’ll find nearly all of the other local eating places covered in my earlier articles (click here and here), or you can check for yourself on the RI Department of Health’s website (click here).

This article notes recent inspections at eight local establishments – the Charlestown Rathskeller, the Hitching Post, Johnny Angels Clam Shack, the Matunuck Oyster Bar, Nordic Lodge, Wilcox Tavern, the Willows and Meadow Brook Inn.

Charlestown Food Safety and Health Update

Health Department conducts half a dozen recent inspections of local food establishments

By Will Collette

On June 13, we ran an article on how well 35 Charlestown and other local restaurants and food stores did in their most recent state Health Department inspections.

Getting the best Health Department reviews for health and safety in that earlier article were the Willows, Small Axe Café, Breachway Grill, Wilcox Tavern, Gentleman Farmer, Dunkin Donuts, Matunuck Oyster Bar, Sea Goose Grill, and Vetrano’s. Cumberland Farms was, far and away, the cleanest food store.

Five of the establishments I listed in the June 13 article have had new inspections since then – Dunkin’ Donuts, Galapagos (Dave’s Coffee), Gentleman Farmer, George’s of Galilee and the Matunuck Oyster Bar.

I also added the Corner Deli to the list due to their recent inspection results.

Here’s what the new Health Department inspections tell us.

Surprising results for food establishments in Charlestown and nearby

Cleanliness and food safety matters

By Will Collette

When you are looking for a place to eat or to shop for food, details matter. How the place looks or smells may determine whether you get much further than the entrance door. 

The Rhode Island Health Department’s food inspectors look at that, but more importantly, they check out the things you don’t usually see. How food is prepared and stored, the physical conditions that can lead to contamination, vermin, or even poisoning.