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Federal health authorities have taken the "unprecedented" step of instructing states to investigate certain individuals on Medicaid to determine whether they are ineligible because of their immigration status, with five states reporting theyāve received more than 170,000 names collectively.
Local governments have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the opioid settlements to support addiction treatment, recovery, and prevention efforts. Their spending decisions in 2024 were sometimes surprising and even controversial. Our new database offers more than 10,500 examples.
California now has a law requiring hospitals and clinics to improve patient privacy and have clear protocols for handling requests by immigration agents. Legal experts say the state canāt fully protect immigrant patients, because federal authorities are allowed in public places, including hospital lobbies, general waiting areas, and parking lots.
Under the budget law that Republicans call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, food assistance for refugees will be sliced. The change is sowing fear, uncertainty, and a struggle for survival ā a sign of whatās to come for millions of Americans.
Florida has announced plans to end mandatory vaccination. Now scientists are assessing which of several diseases deadly to children ā whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus ā are likely to make a resurgence and when.
As families fracture, people are living longer and are more likely to find themselves without close relatives or friends at the end of their lives.
As a warming climate intensifies storms, Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News has identified more than 170 U.S. hospitals at risk of significant and potentially dangerous flooding. Climate experts warn that the Trump administrationās cuts leave the nation less prepared.
Some injured patients say they wish they had tried harder to check the backgrounds of doctors and clinics they trusted, but those records are hard to find.
States are taking aim at chemicals and additives in foods as Republicans and Democrats alike embrace at least one aspect of the Trump administrationās āMake America Healthy Againā push. Itās a shift for Republicans, who had vilified past Democratic efforts to impose government will on what people eat and drink.
As the climate changes, hurricanes are intensifying more quickly, leaving Louisianaās current mass evacuation plan in limbo. But transportation officials say the price is too high to switch to methods used in Florida and Texas.
Some states are enacting medical debt laws as the Trump administration pulls back federal protections. Elsewhere, industry opposition has derailed legislation.
A pilot program testing the use of artificial intelligence to expand prior authorization decisions in Medicare has providers, politicians, and researchers questioning Trump administration promises to curb an unpopular practice that has frustrated patients and their doctors.
In South Texasā Rio Grande Valley, many people go without health insurance, and the health system struggles as a result. Similar communities dot the nation, and more could face such difficulties under President Donald Trumpās tax-and-spending law.
The GOP said its overhaul of Medicaid was aimed at reducing fraud and getting more adult beneficiaries to work. Among the likely side effects: fewer services and doctors for treating sick children.
Public health officials see lice as a nuisance, not a health threat, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended for years that students with live lice be allowed to remain in class. But as āno-nitā policies have been dropped in favor of ānonexclusionā rules, some school districts have seen parents and teachers push back.
The Trump administration has pushed a significant amount of health costs to states, whose budgets may already be strained by declining state tax revenues, a slowdown in pandemic spending, and economic uncertainty. State and local governments now face difficult decisions.
Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Hereās a collection of their appearances.
Four pediatricians said evidence-based science and medicine and a desire to keep kids healthy drive doctorsā childhood vaccination recommendations. And while pediatric practices might make money immunizing privately insured children, most practices likely break even or lose money from providing the shots.
Social Security, under the leadership of a tech enthusiast, rolled out an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to answer calls. But as beneficiaries complain about glitches, lawmakers and former officials ask whether itās a preview of a less human agency at which rushed-out AI takes the place of pushed-out government workers.
The Trump administration's cuts of public health funds to state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of where someone lives, a new Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News analysis shows.
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