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Some States May Allow Nurses to Do More Without Doctors
When COVID-19 hit the United States in 2020, state policymakers across the country jumped to expand access to health care. They temporarily allowed more telehealth, for example, and made it easier for medical providers to practice across state lines. Many states also gave new authority to nurses, physician assistants and pharmacists, often dropping or loosening […]
More States Are Doing What They Can to Cap Insulin Costs
The story has been updated to correct the number of patients who take insulin and to reflect that there are some generic insulin products. In her early 20s, Karisa Hunt learned the hard lesson of what happens when someone rations life-preserving medication. Hunt was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a 4 year old and […]
This State Could Be the Last One (for a While, Anyway) to Expand Medicaid
The story has been updated to correct the number of organizations comprising the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas. It is 128. For years, state Sen. Phil Berger says, there was nobody in North Carolina who opposed Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act more vehemently than he did. “If there was somebody in the state […]
More States Offer Health Coverage to Immigrant Children
A small but growing number of states are extending government health benefits to children regardless of their immigration status. Come January, Connecticut and New Jersey will join the nine states plus Washington, D.C., that already allow children without permanent legal status to enroll in either Medicaid, the public health plan for residents with lower incomes, […]
Supreme Court Case Could Curtail Rights of Medicaid Patients
Gorgi Talevski did not live long enough to see his case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this month. A Macedonian-born resident of Indiana, Talevski operated a crane for three decades, raised a family and loved to dance before his dementia deepened, and he died last year. But the court’s decision, expected in spring, could […]
Health Harms of Mass Shootings Ripple Across Communities
A grim and familiar pattern has followed the parade of mass shootings across America. In their aftermath, the nation’s attention focuses on the direct victims of the attacks, the dead and injured, their families and friends, and the witnesses. But a growing body of research reveals that the negative effects of mass shootings spread much […]
Babies Kept Dying in This City. People Worked Together to Understand Why.
BALTIMORE — Nine women, some mothers, some expecting, sit chattering at a U-shaped table in a church hall on an October morning, happy to be out of the downpour outside. A few have young children underfoot. Guadalupe Franco, a community health worker, once as hungry for good parenting tips as these women are now, stands […]
Many Patients Can’t Afford Health Costs Even With Insurance
The number of Americans with health insurance has climbed to historic highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, but within that silver lining is a darker hue. Many Americans have policies that only provide limited financial protection, to the point that many patients report forgoing needed medical care or prescriptions to avoid being hit with punishing out-of-pocket […]
‘Shocking’ Rise in STIs During COVID Alarms Health Workers
In 2019, Columbus, Ohio, had seven reported cases of congenital syphilis, or cases in which a newborn child was infected during pregnancy. Two years later, that number rose to 20. And now? “Year to date, we’ve already seen 28 cases,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, the city’s health commissioner. One of this year’s cases, she added, […]
Nevada’s Public Health Insurance Option Could Bring More Than $1B in Savings
Nevada’s soon-to-be-launched public health option could generate between $344 million and $464 million in savings in its first five years and would help lower health insurance premiums and reduce the rate of Nevadans without health insurance, according to a new state report. In 2021, the Nevada legislature passed a public option law, joining Colorado and […]
More Children Have Gained Health Insurance During Pandemic
The rate of children without health insurance declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely the result of a provision passed by Congress that barred states from dropping anyone from Medicaid during the public health emergency. According to an analysis of new U.S. Census Bureau data by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, the child uninsurance rate […]
Pandemic Prompts More States to Mandate Paid Sick Leave
For all the punishment COVID-19 has inflicted in New Mexico, the virus also is responsible for the state enacting one of the broadest paid sick leave laws in the country. “It’s almost completely related to the pandemic,” said Democratic state Sen. Mimi Stewart, who co-sponsored the bill in her chamber. The New Mexico law, which […]