Trending News Today: Rural American Hit Hard by Opioid, HIV Epidemics

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced that it will be enforcing a tax penalty for Americans without health insurance, according to The New York Times. Next year, the IRS will reject electronic tax returns if information about coverage is missing and paper returns may be suspended or subject to delayed refunds, according to the article. Notably, the IRS’ actions contradict to an executive order that allows agencies to reduce their enforcement of Affordable Care Act provisions.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) recently called on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bring the short-term healthcare stabilization bill to a vote this week, according to The Hill. Schumer also said that the bill has received support from at least 60 senators thus far, including 12 Republicans. McConnell said that he would bring the bill to the Senate floor if he was confident that the president would sign it, according to the article.

The next area facing the threat of an HIV epidemic may be rural regions that are especially hard hit by the opioid epidemic, according to Politico. A new boom of HIV and other blood-borne diseases has been the result of increased injection drug use related to the opioid epidemic. Since there is relatively little testing for HIV in some rural counties, health officials fear that the infection has begun to spread, according to the article. With little preparedness for a large outbreak, the health effects could be severe.