Assessing changes in food pantry access after extreme events.

Food pantries play a growing role in supporting households facing or at risk of food insecurity in the United States. They also support emergency response and recovery following disasters and extreme weather events. Although food pantries are often placed in close proximity to communities with the highest rates of poverty and risk of food insecurity, access to these facilities can be disrupted during and after extreme events.

The impact of natural disasters on medicare costs in U.S. gulf coast states.

Medicare utilization and costs for residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast, who are highly vulnerable to natural disasters, may be impacted by their disaster exposure.

Disaster impacts on cost and utilization of Medicare.

Background: To estimate changes in the cost and utilization of Medicare among beneficiaries over age 65 who have been impacted by a natural disaster, we merged publically available county-level Medicare claims for the years 2008-2012 with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) data related to disasters in each U.S. County from 2007 to 2012.