Concerns Over Fairness, Access Rise as States Compete for Slice of $50B Rural Health Fund
Amid public forums and local cries for help, states are also talking with large health systems, technology companies, and others amid intensifying competition for shares of a $50 billion fund to improve rural health.
From Narcan to Gun Silencers, Opioid Settlement Cash Pays Law Enforcement Tabs
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.
Trump鈥檚 HHS Orders State Medicaid Programs To Help Find Undocumented Immigrants
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 they鈥檝e received more than 170,000 names collectively.
California Faces Limits as It Directs Health Facilities To Push Back on Immigration Raids
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 can鈥檛 fully protect immigrant patients, because federal authorities are allowed in public places, including hospital lobbies, general waiting areas, and parking lots.
The Quiet Collapse of America鈥檚 Reproductive Health Safety Net
The HHS office that administers the Title X family planning program has been effectively shut down. And with cuts to federal funding for other family health programs, expected Medicaid cuts, and the potential lapse of ACA subsidies, health leaders fear they are seeing the biggest setback to U.S. reproductive care in half a century.
Doctor Tripped Up by $64K Bill for Ankle Surgery and Hospital Stay
A doctor in Colorado became the patient after an accident totaled her car and sent her to the operating room. The hospital kept her overnight, but her insurer stopped paying after she left the emergency room.
Trump Team Takes Aim at State Laws Shielding Consumers’ Credit Scores From Medical Debt
Reversing guidance from the Biden administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau concludes that states cannot bar medical debt from their residents鈥 credit reports.
A Ticking Clock: How States Are Preparing for a Last-Minute Obamacare Deal
Even if Congress strikes a deal soon to extend more generous Affordable Care Act subsidies, the prices and types of ACA plans available could change dramatically. Unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval could cloud this year鈥檚 open enrollment season, which begins in most states on Saturday.
Reporters Cover the Shutdown and the Use of AI in Health Care
杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News journalists made the rounds on national or local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Officials Show Little Proof That New Tech Will Help Medicaid Enrollees Meet Work Rules
The Trump administration says it鈥檚 developing a digital tool to help people prove they鈥檙e meeting new Medicaid work requirements. 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News talked to officials from the two states running pilot programs and found little evidence of new 鈥 or effective 鈥 technology.
States Jostle Over $50B Rural Health Fund as Trump鈥檚 Medicaid Cuts Trigger Scramble
States are battling for their piece of $50 billion in federal rural health funding, but it鈥檚 not just hospitals vying for the money. Tech startups and policy demands are raising the stakes as Medicaid cuts loom.
Senators Press Deloitte, Other Contractors on Errors in Medicaid Eligibility Systems
As contractors position themselves to cash in on a gush of new business managing Medicaid work requirements, a cadre of senators has launched an inquiry into the companies paid billions to build eligibility systems.
Trump Called Digital Equity Act 鈥楻acist.鈥 Now Internet Money for Rural Americans Is Gone.
President Donald Trump called the Digital Equity Act unconstitutional, racist, and illegal. Then the $2.75 billion program for rural and underserved communities to gain internet access disappeared.
Wary of RFK Jr., Colorado Started Revamping Its Vaccine Policies in the Spring
Amid concerns that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is undermining trust in vaccines and public health science, some states are seeking new sources of scientific consensus and changing how they regulate insurance companies, prescribers, and pharmacists. Colorado has been at the front of this wave.
Nuclear Missile Workers Are Contracting Cancer. They Blame the Bases.
People who maintained the nation鈥檚 land-based nuclear missile arsenal are coming down with similar cancers. The Air Force is wrapping up a large study of the health risks they may have faced.
Workers鈥 Wages Siphoned To Pay Medical Bills, Despite Consumer Protections
Health care providers and debt collectors are biting from people鈥檚 paychecks to cover old medical bills. A 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News investigation in Colorado shows that this aggressive collection practice is widespread even in a state considered to have strong consumer protections.
Doctors With Troubled聽Pasts Are Performing Cosmetic Surgeries Tied to Crippling Pain and Injury
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 Target Ultraprocessed Foods in Bipartisan Push
States are taking aim at chemicals and additives in foods as Republicans and Democrats alike embrace at least one aspect of the Trump administration鈥檚 鈥淢ake America Healthy Again鈥 push. It鈥檚 a shift for Republicans, who had vilified past Democratic efforts to impose government will on what people eat and drink.
Big Loopholes in Hospital Charity Care Programs Mean Patients Still Get Stuck With the Tab
Even if people qualify for financial help with their hospital bills, the care they receive may not be covered.
As Trump Punts on Medical Debt, Battle Over Patient Protections Moves to States
Some states are enacting medical debt laws as the Trump administration pulls back federal protections. Elsewhere, industry opposition has derailed legislation.
