Boom, Now Bust: Budget Cuts and Layoffs Take Hold in Public Health
State leaders are cutting public health spending and laying off workers hired during a pandemic-era grant boom. Public health officials say the bust will erode important advancements in the public health safety net, particularly in rural areas.
Del auge a la ca铆da: falta de dinero y despidos golpean a la salud p煤blica
Ante la pandemia, el Congreso asign贸 m谩s de $800 mil millones para fortalecer la respuesta de los estados ante covid. Esto result贸 en un notable aumento del n煤mero de trabajadores de salud p煤blica en todo el pa铆s. Ese dinero se ha esfumado.
Tribal Health Officials 鈥楤linded鈥 by Lack of Data
A strong public health system can make a big difference for those who face stark health disparities. But epidemiologists serving Native American communities, which have some of the nation鈥檚 most profound health inequities, say they鈥檙e hobbled by state and federal agencies restricting their access to important data. American Indians and Alaska Natives face life expectancy […]
Native American Public Health Officials Are Stuck in Data Blind Spot
For decades, state and federal agencies have restricted or delayed tribes and tribal epidemiology centers from accessing public health data, a blackout that leaves health workers in Native American communities cobbling together information to guide their work, including tracking devastating disease outbreaks.
Care Gaps Grow as OB/GYNs Flee Idaho
Not so long ago, Bonner General Health, the hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, had four OB/GYNs on staff, who treated patients from multiple rural counties. That was before Idaho鈥檚 near-total abortion ban went into effect almost two years ago, criminalizing most abortions. All four of Bonner鈥檚 OB/GYNs聽left by last summer, some citing fears that the state鈥檚 ban […]
Idaho鈥檚 OB-GYN Exodus Throws Women in Rural Towns Into a Care Void
Idaho鈥檚 law criminalizing abortion drove a high-profile exodus of OB-GYNs from the state more than a year ago. Now, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back abortion protections enshrined by Roe v. Wade, patients in rural Idaho are forced to leave their community for gynecological care.
Medicaid Unwinding Deals Blow to Tenuous System of Care for Native Americans
Although Native American and Alaska Native adults are enrolled in Medicaid at higher rates than their white counterparts, many tribal leaders feel they鈥檝e been left in the dark as states roll through the tumultuous Medicaid unwinding that started last year.
Tribal Nations Invest Opioid Settlement Funds in Traditional Healing To Treat Addiction
Hundreds of Native American tribes are getting money from settlements with companies that made or sold prescription painkillers. Some are investing it in sweat lodges, statistical models, and insurance-billing staffers.
Rural Americans Are Way More Likely To Die Young. Why?
Three words are commonly repeated to describe rural America and its residents: older, sicker and poorer. Obviously, there鈥檚 a lot more going on in the nation鈥檚 towns than that tired stereotype suggests. But a new report from the Agriculture Department鈥檚 Economic Research Service gives credence to the 鈥渟icker鈥 part of the trope. Rural Americans ages […]
City-Country Mortality Gap Widens Amid Persistent Holes in Rural Health Care Access
People in their prime working years living in rural America are 43% more likely to die of natural causes, like diseases, than their urban counterparts, a disparity that grew rapidly in recent decades, according to a new federal report.
GOP-Led States Expand Crackdowns on Transgender Care
South Carolina鈥檚 legislature is poised to pass a bill prohibiting doctors from offering some health-care services to transgender minors 鈥 part of a new wave of anti-trans legislation from Republican-led states. The South Carolina bill, which passed the state House of Representatives in January and is under consideration in the Senate, would bar health-care providers […]
Operating in the Red: Half of Rural Hospitals Lose Money, as Many Cut Services
A recent report finds half of America鈥檚 rural hospitals are losing money, and many are struggling to stay open. Researchers and advocates worry the hospitals鈥 financial spiral will have immediate and long-term health effects on their communities.
Avanzan en varios estados proyectos de ley extremos sobre el uso de ba帽os por g茅nero
Al menos uno de los proyectos de ley es tan extremo como para proponer que se considere delito que una persona transg茅nero entre en una instalaci贸n que no coincida con el sexo indicado en su acta de nacimiento.
Bathroom Bills Are Back 鈥 Broader and Stricter 鈥 In Several States
State lawmakers are resurrecting and expanding efforts to prohibit transgender people from using public restrooms and other spaces that match their gender. Some have sought to ban trans people from 鈥渟ex-designated spaces,鈥 including domestic violence shelters and crisis centers, which experts say could violate anti-discrimination laws and jeopardize federal funding.
Child Care Gaps in Rural America Threaten to Undercut Small Communities
Deep gaps in rural America鈥檚 child care system threaten communities鈥 stability by shrinking the workforce and inhibiting economic potential. Now that pandemic-era federal aid for child care programs and low-income families has ended, it鈥檚 up to state and local leaders to find solutions.
Feds Try to Head Off Growing Problem of Overdoses Among Expectant Mothers
Homicides, suicides, and drug overdoses have driven rising rates of pregnancy-related death in the U.S. This fall, six states received federal funding for substance use treatment interventions to prevent at least some of those deaths.
Con cambios en Medicaid, residentes de zonas rurales se sienten abandonados a su suerte
En las zonas rurales, la falta de acceso a navegadores, las personas que ayudan a los beneficiarios de Medicaid a mantener su cobertura o encontrar otro seguro si ya no re煤nen los requisitos, podr铆a agravar estas dificultades.
How Will Rural Americans Fare During Medicaid Unwinding? Experts Fear They鈥檙e on Their Own
As states review their Medicaid rolls after the expiration of a pandemic-era prohibition against kicking recipients off the government insurance program, experts say the lack of help available to rural Americans in navigating insurance options puts them at greater risk of losing health coverage than people in metropolitan areas.
Tribal Health Workers Aren鈥檛 Paid Like Their Peers. See Why Nevada Changed That.
Community health workers, who often help patients get to their appointments and pick up prescriptions for them, have increasingly been recognized as an integral part of treating chronic illnesses. But state-run Medicaid programs don鈥檛 always reimburse them equally, usually excluding those who work on tribal lands.
Familias huyen de los estados que niegan atenci贸n de salud a las personas trans
M谩s de una cuarta parte de los adultos trans encuestados por KFF y The Washington Post a fines del a帽o pasado dijeron que se mudaron a otro vecindario, ciudad o estado en busca de un ambiente m谩s tolerante.
