States Bet Big on Rural Health Startups, With a Silicon Valley Twist
States bet big on rural health startups, with a Silicon Valley twist When Josh Fleig, Louisiana’s chief innovation officer, learned his state had set aside $20 million a year, for five years, to invest in startup rural health companies, his reaction was not surprising: “Wow!” In rural America, where people are often reported to be […]
Outcome of Suit Against Department of Labor Could Boost Skimpy Employer Health Plans
A long-running lawsuit challenging what it means to be an employee and therefore have access to work-based health plans is being closely watched by health policy analysts. Its outcome could spur the availability of lower-cost but potentially skimpier health coverage that skirts some consumer protections. Court papers indicate a settlement in the case against the […]
A Cancer Survivor Hoped To Work — Then She Lost Her Medicaid Disability Coverage
Taya Hailstone has been in remission from childhood Hodgkin lymphoma for five years. But the cancer’s lasting damage to her organs and nerves can make basic tasks, like loading a dishwasher, hard. Still, Montana’s health department decided last year that Hailstone is no longer eligible for low-cost disability health coverage through Medicaid. The department switched […]
Rising Healthcare Costs Have Hit Georgia’s Most Conservative District. But Its Politics Are Unlikely To Change.
Amber Bates of Cohutta, Georgia, is one of thousands of people without health insurance in the 14th Congressional District, home to about 765,000 people in the northwestern corner of the state. She and her husband have not had health coverage for the past two years, Bates said, because their employment is unsteady and they earn […]
A Generation of Kids Suffer as Trump Destabilizes Immigrant Families
The little girl stared up at Norma Gómez from the doorway of her neighbor’s apartment, her sad, brown eyes suddenly flashing with hope. “Are you the person who’s going to bring my mom back?” she asked. Gómez struggled to find an answer. It was a December morning, and she’d brought food, diapers, baby wipes, and […]
Indigenous Groups Are Exempt From Medicaid Work Rules, but Native Hawaiians Aren’t
WAIANAE, Hawai‘i — Native Hawaiians will need to comply with new work requirements to qualify for Medicaid after being excluded from exemptions carved out for other Indigenous groups, an omission that clinicians fear will exacerbate the challenges the marginalized population already faces in getting healthcare. In 43 states and the District of Columbia, President Donald […]
Readers Wrestle With Healthcare Inequalities and Want a Word With Congress
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Imbalance of Power — And Healthcare Why can members of Congress remain on full taxpayer-funded salaries during prolonged medical absences while millions of working Americans cannot afford to get sick? (Kennedy, […]
Rural Americans Wait After Judge Delivers Mixed Ruling on Digital Equity Dollars
A federal judge in July gave digital equity advocates a partial victory against President Donald Trump, stopping his attempt to unilaterally kill a multibillion-dollar grant program Congress created. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, in a 35-page opinion, also agreed with the administration that it was unconstitutional for the government to use race or […]
When a Friend Becomes a Caregiver
For several years, Nicole Straight and Patricia Wood, who lived across the street from each other in Sausalito, California, were more neighbors than friends, exchanging sociable greetings and occasionally having coffee. Then, last October, Wood took a fall, broke her neck, and spent three months in rehabilitation. When she returned to the house she shares […]
A NY Hospital Tried To Close Its Birthing Center. This City United To Fight Back.
TROY, N.Y. — Like many residents of this aging industrial city on the Hudson River, Starletta Washington was stunned when she heard Troy’s last remaining hospital planned to close its birthing center. “It was devastating,” said Washington, who heads the local YWCA. Washington was born at the hospital and had her children there. She couldn’t […]