Federal Panel Prescribes New Mental Health Strategy To Curb Maternal Deaths

The leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States — including suicides and fatalities linked to substance use disorders — stem from mental health conditions. Now a federal task force has recommended strategies to help women who are at risk during or after pregnancy.

Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay for Threats to Reproductive Rights

Democrats running for office are using abortion rollbacks to galvanize voters, with abortion rights ballot initiatives amplifying their lines of attack. In Missouri, the leading Democratic candidate for the Senate also blames Republican Sen. Josh Hawley for threatening access to IVF.

Unsheltered People Are Losing Medicaid in Redetermination Mix-Ups

Some of the nearly 130,000 Montanans who have lost Medicaid coverage as the state reevaluates eligibility are homeless. That’s in part because Montana kicked more than 80,000 people off the program for technical reasons rather than income ineligibility. For unhoused people who were disenrolled, getting back on Medicaid can be extraordinarily difficult.

Paris Hilton Backs California Bill Requiring Sunshine on ‘Troubled Teen Industry’

Celebrity hotel heiress Paris Hilton is expanding her campaign for more public reporting on residential therapeutic centers’ use of restraints and seclusion rooms in disciplining teens, setting her sights on legislation in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

How National Political Ambition Could Fuel, or Fail, Initiatives to Protect Abortion Rights in States

As money flows to abortion rights initiatives in states, some donors focus on where anger over the “Dobbs” ruling could propel voter turnout and spur Democratic victories up and down the ballot, including in key Senate races and the White House.

Operating in the Red: Half of Rural Hospitals Lose Money, as Many Cut Services

A recent report finds half of America’s rural hospitals are losing money, and many are struggling to stay open. Researchers and advocates worry the hospitals’ financial spiral will have immediate and long-term health effects on their communities.

Bathroom Bills Are Back — Broader and Stricter — In Several States

State lawmakers are resurrecting and expanding efforts to prohibit transgender people from using public restrooms and other spaces that match their gender. Some have sought to ban trans people from “sex-designated spaces,” including domestic violence shelters and crisis centers, which experts say could violate anti-discrimination laws and jeopardize federal funding.

Is Housing Health Care? State Medicaid Programs Increasingly Say ‘Yes’

States are using their Medicaid programs to offer poor and sick people housing services, such as paying six months’ rent or helping hunt for apartments. The trend comes in response to a growing homelessness epidemic, but experts caution this may not be the best use of limited health care money.