Nearly All Vermonters Have Health Insurance, but Care Is Tough To Find
Almost all people have health insurance in Vermont, a state famed for its maple syrup and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, yet residents pay the nation’s highest insurance premiums for individual coverage and endure months-long waits for care — and most hospitals here are losing money, according to state reports and interviews with residents and…
FTC, Indiana Residents Pressure State To Block Hospital Merger
Indiana residents and federal officials are urging state health regulators to stop two rival hospitals in Terre Haute from merging. The deal, if approved, would leave residents with a hospital monopoly. Union Health, a nonprofit whose main hospital is licensed as a 341-bed facility, would buy the county’s only other acute care hospital, the 278-bed…
Idaho Calls Abortion ‘Barbaric and Gruesome’ in Trial Challenging Strict Ban
BOISE, Idaho — Physicians are expected to take the stand in Idaho’s capital on Tuesday to argue that the state’s near-total prohibition of abortion care is jeopardizing women’s health, forcing them to carry fetuses with deadly anomalies, and preventing doctors from intervening in potentially fatal medical emergencies. Their testimony is scheduled to lead off the…
Journalists Examine Health Care for Native Americans and Recent Food Recalls
KFF Health News contributor Andy Miller discussed the Trump presidency and health care on WUGA’s “The Georgia Health Report” on Nov. 8. Click here to hear Miller on “The Georgia Health Report” Read Stephanie Armour’s “Trump’s White House Return Poised To Tangle Health Care Safety Net” KFF Health News correspondent Brett Kelman discussed dental implants…
Pay First, Deliver Later: Some Women Are Being Asked To Prepay for Their Baby
In April, just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, Kathleen Clark was standing at the receptionist window of her OB-GYN’s office when she was asked to pay $960, the total the office estimated she would owe after she delivered. Clark, 39, was shocked that she was asked to pay that amount during this second prenatal visit.…
Tribal Leaders Ask Feds To Declare Syphilis Outbreak a Public Health Emergency
For Native American communities in the Great Plains, data paints a clear picture of the devastation caused by an ongoing syphilis outbreak. According to the South Dakota Department of Health, 649 cases of syphilis have been documented this year. Of those, 546 were diagnosed among Native Americans, who make up only 9 percent of the…
California amplió el Medi-Cal a todos los residentes más allá de su estatus migratorio. Los resultados son desiguales.
Este año, California ha dado el último paso para abrir el Medi-Cal, su programa de Medicaid, a todos los residentes que reúnan los requisitos, independientemente de su estatus migratorio. Es una expansión significativa para un programa de protección social que ya de por sí es masivo. El gasto anual de Medi-Cal asciende actualmente a $157.000…
Tribal Health Leaders Say Feds Haven’t Treated Syphilis Outbreak as a Public Health Emergency
Natalie Holt sees reminders nearly everywhere of the serious toll a years-long syphilis outbreak has taken in South Dakota. Scrambling to tamp down the spread of the devastating disease, public health officials are blasting messages to South Dakotans on billboards and television, urging people to get tested. Holt works in Aberdeen, a city of about…
Voters in These Red States Okay Paid Sick Leave
Voters in Missouri and Nebraska approved ballot measures Tuesday that guarantee paid leave for sick workers. Alaska voters seem poised to pass a similar measure that has a wide lead. These two Republican-led states join 15 others and D.C. — largely Democratic-controlled places — in requiring some employers to provide workers with paid sick leave. Proponents cheered…
Many Voters Backed Abortion Rights and Donald Trump, a Challenge for Democrats
Voters in three states — Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada — chose on Tuesday to advance protections for abortion rights in their state constitutions. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is likely to win all three states in his victorious bid for the White House. It’s a conundrum for Democrats, who expected ballot initiatives on abortion rights in those…