California Expanded Medi-Cal to Unauthorized Residents. The Results Are Mixed.
California this year took the final step in opening Medi-Cal, its Medicaid program, to every eligible resident regardless of immigration status. It’s a significant expansion for an already massive safety net program. Medi-Cal’s annual spending now stands at $157 billion, serving about 15 million low-income residents, more than a third of Californians. Of those, about…
7 of 10 States Backed Abortion Rights, but Don’t Expect Change Overnight
Voters backed abortion rights in seven of the 10 states where the issue appeared on ballots Tuesday, including in Missouri, among the first states to ban abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections with its 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. At first glance, the nation’s patchwork of abortion…
12 States Promised To Open the Books on Their Opioid Settlement Funds. We Checked Up on Them.
To discover how millions in opioid settlement funds are being spent in Idaho, you can visit the state attorney general’s website, which hosts 91 documents from state and local entities getting the money. What you’ll find is a lot of bureaucratese. Nearly three years ago, these jurisdictions signed an agreement promising annual reports “specifying the…
7 of 10 States Backed Abortion Rights. But Little To Change Yet.
Voters backed abortion rights in seven of the 10 states where the issue appeared on ballots Tuesday — at first glance, seemingly reshaping the nation’s patchwork of abortion rules. Colorado, Maryland, Montana, and New York — states where abortions are already permitted at least until fetal viability — all will add abortion protections to their…
In Vermont, Where Almost Everyone Has Insurance, Many Can’t Find or Afford Care
RICHMOND, Vt. — On a warm autumn morning, Roger Brown walked through a grove of towering trees whose sap fuels his maple syrup business. He was checking for damage after recent flooding. But these days, his workers’ health worries him more than his trees’. The cost of Slopeside Syrup’s employee health insurance premiums spiked 24%…
As Nuns Disappear, Many Catholic Hospitals Look More Like Megacorporations
ST. LOUIS — Inside the more than 600 Catholic hospitals across the country, not a single nun can be found occupying a chief executive suite, according to the Catholic Health Association. Nuns founded and led those hospitals in a mission to treat sick and poor people, but some were also shrewd business leaders. Sister Irene…
Trump quiere que Harris pague un precio político por ofrecer salud a inmigrantes sin papeles
María Sánchez emigró al área de Chicago desde México hace unos 30 años. Ahora, a sus 87, sigue viviendo en Estados Unidos sin papeles. Como muchos inmigrantes de larga data, ha trabajado —y pagado impuestos, incluyendo para Medicare— durante todo ese tiempo. Pero Sánchez nunca tuvo seguro médico, y cuando cumplió 65, no pudo inscribirse…
Trump Wants Harris To Pay a Political Price for Generous Immigrant Health Policies
Maria Sanchez immigrated to the Chicago area from Mexico about 30 years ago. Now 87, she’s still living in the U.S. without authorization. Like many longtime immigrants, she has worked — and paid taxes, including Medicare taxes — all that time. But Sanchez never had health insurance, and when she turned 65, she couldn’t enroll…
Paid Sick Leave Is Up for a Vote in Three States
ST. LOUIS — Voters in Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska will soon decide whether workers in those states should be entitled to paid sick leave. If approved, the ballot measures would allow many workers to accrue paid time off, a benefit supporters say means workers — especially those with low-paying jobs — would no longer have…
What’s at Stake: A Pivotal Election for Six Big Health Issues
In the final days of the campaign, stark disagreements between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump over the future of American health care are on display — in particular, in sober warnings about abortion access, the specter of future cuts to the Affordable Care Act, and bold pronouncements about empowering activists eager…