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Someone trying to access mental health care is twice as likely to be denied coverage by a private insurer than someone seeking surgical or other medical care, according to a survey of 84 insurance plans in 15 states by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Matt Selig, executive director of Health Law Advocates, a Boston-based nonprofit group that represents low-income residents, said that last year alone his agency opened cases for 158 people who were denied coverage for mental health or substance use treatment, nearly half of them children. (Kevin Cullen, 3/27)

The future of Medicare and Medicaid may depend on John McCain. He is one of a handful of Senate Republicans who could serve as a firewall against harmful changes to this crucial program that Arizona seniors rely upon. ... Looking down the road, the majority in Congress has also proposed to privatize Medicare and raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. These actions could reduce health care coverage and increase out-of-pocket costs for Arizona’s 1,134,000 seniors and people with disabilities. (Max Richtman, 3/27)

Millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act for their insurance coverage dodged a bullet last week when Republican infighting killed a bill by the House GOP leadership to repeal and replace the healthcare law. So, thankfully, did Planned Parenthood. Embedded in the bill was a provision to bar federal funding temporarily for this well-regarded and crucial healthcare provider, which the GOP has tried, obsessively, to dismantle for years. (3/28)

For many, the role of physicians in hospice is especially important — as they attend to patients and families at this most vulnerable time, guiding and comforting them through the toughest decisions they will ever make. What kind of quality of life does the patient want? What side effects can be expected from chemo or certain medications? What’s the best way to deal with pain? It’s a role hospice doctors readily accept. (Dr. Hashim Raza, 3/28)

By middle age, the lenses in your eyes harden, becoming less flexible. Your eye muscles increasingly struggle to bend them to focus on this print. But a new form of training — brain retraining, really — may delay the inevitable age-related loss of close-range visual focus so that you won’t need reading glasses. Various studies say it works, though no treatment of any kind works for everybody. (Austin Frakt, 3/27)