Colorado Dropped Medicaid Enrollees as Red States Have, Alarming Advocates for the Poor
Colorado defended its high disenrollment rates following the covid crisis by saying that what goes up must come down. Advocates and researchers disagree.
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Colorado defended its high disenrollment rates following the covid crisis by saying that what goes up must come down. Advocates and researchers disagree.
Proposed state standards to protect indoor workers from extreme heat would extend to schools. The rules come as climate change is bringing more frequent and intense heat waves, causing schools nationwide to cancel instruction.
A single Central Florida county reported 13% of all U.S. leprosy cases in 2020. Researchers have teamed up to investigate whether armadillos are passing the bacteria that cause the disease to humans — which is especially concerning as the animals expand their range farther north.
After California passed the first law in the nation to limit the disavowed term “excited delirium,” bills in other states are being introduced to help end use of the diagnosis. But momentum is being met with resistance from law enforcement and first responder groups, who cite free speech.
California’s governor vetoed a bill extending insurance coverage for kids with hearing loss, but most states now require it.
Even in states where laws protect minors’ access to gender-affirming care, malpractice insurance premiums are keeping small and independent clinics from treating patients.
In the past year, opioid settlement money has gone from an emerging funding stream for which people had lofty but uncertain aspirations to a coveted pot of billions being invested in remediation efforts. Here are some important and evolving factors to watch going forward.
Some states haven't begun using opioid settlement funds intended to help curb the opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Americans died of an overdose last year.
This month, the federal government started paying for treatments delivered outside hospitals and clinics, expanding funding for “street medicine” teams that treat homeless patients. California led the way on the change, which could help sick and vulnerable patients get healthy, sober, and, in some cases, into housing.
The American College of Emergency Physicians agreed to withdraw its 2009 white paper on excited delirium, removing the only official medical pillar of support left for the theory that has played a key role in absolving police of culpability for in-custody deaths.
The American College of Emergency Physicians will vote in early October on whether to disavow its 2009 research paper on excited delirium, which has been cited as a cause of death and used as a legal defense by police officers in several high-profile cases.
Federal officials are trying to clamp down on private arrangements among some hospitals to pay themselves back for the Medicaid taxes they’ve paid. State health officials and the influential hospital industry argue that regulators have no jurisdiction over the agreements.
A state lawmaker wants all incoming college students to get an HPV vaccine, as part of a push to drive up vaccination rates and prevent cervical cancer. At least four other states have enacted a similar mandate.
States take drastically different approaches to recovering Medicaid money from deceased participants’ estates. Demands for repayment of Medicaid spending can drain the assets a person leaves behind, depending on where they lived.
Washington state regulators found formaldehyde, lead, and arsenic in lipstick, powder foundations, skin lotions, and hair products marketed to and popular with women of color. Now legislators there are seeking to ban the products and, like at least a dozen other states, make up for lax federal rules.
Conservative lawmakers may find their anti-abortion agendas complicated by state constitutions that explicitly grant citizens the right to privacy, regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court does.
Many travel insurance plans offer health care coverage, but they could limit how much the insurer will pay or exclude coverage for health crises like the coronavirus pandemic. That may leave foreign travelers — unfamiliar with the way the American health system works ― on the hook for major expenses.
Under a program enacted in Washington state this spring, workers can get up to $36,500 to help pay for long-term health care and services such as installing grab bars in the shower or respite care for family caregivers.
The federal health law includes a provision that allows states to alter some of its rules if they can think of a better way to provide health care to their residents, but it’s not clear how far outside the box states can go.
But CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt declines to predict fate of the 13 remaining state exchanges in congressional testimony.
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