Rural Dispatch: Tuesday, May 26, 2026
When Natural Disasters Strike, Another Crisis Hits Those Recovering From Opioid Addiction
By Andrew Jones
Using Hurricane Helene as a teachable moment, a group of doctors outlined concrete steps that lawmakers can take to reverse a crisis in getting substance use medications during natural disasters.
Saving Lives by Changing Lives: The Next Frontier in Suicide Prevention
By Aneri Pattani
Someone in America dies by suicide every 11 minutes. It’s a tragic and entrenched problem. A new approach to prevention shifts the focus from stopping harm in moments of crisis to upstream policies that give people reasons to live.
An Urgent Care Treated Her Allergic Reaction. An ER Monitored Her — For $6,700.
By Andrew Jones
A bug bite and an allergic reaction ultimately sent a North Carolina woman to the emergency room, where she had a couple of brief chats with a doctor and a dose of medicine. Now she questions why the charges were so high.
Cheaper, Alternative Health Plans Are Having a Moment, but Critics Urge Caution
By Sarah Kwon
Congress' decision not to extend enhanced marketplace tax credits has boosted the appeal of alternative health coverage with lower monthly premiums. Consumer advocates dismiss the plans as "junk insurance,” while proponents say patients need alternatives to pricey marketplace options.
Trump’s $50B Rural Health Bet Meets a Healthcare Desert in North Carolina
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Amanda Seitz
Republicans promise that $50 billion in new health funding will help rural America. But it’s not expected to aid the years-long effort in North Carolina’s Martin County to reopen its only hospital.
Religious Anti-Abortion Center Finds Opportunity in Town Without OB-GYNs
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
A crisis pregnancy center in Sandpoint, Idaho, wants to expand women’s healthcare three years after the labor and delivery unit at the town’s hospital closed and its OB-GYNs moved out of state.
RFK Jr. Swaps Vaccine Talk for Healthy Foods and Reading to Tots in Push To Woo Voters
By Amanda Seitz
He tested robotic hands on a heart surgery patient and chewed on microgreens in Ohio, but Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. couldn’t dodge questions about the Trump administration’s more controversial policies.
Delays in Visa Program Threaten Placement of Hundreds of Doctors in Underserved Areas
By Arielle Zionts and Oona Zenda
A federal agency has dramatically slowed its review of visa waiver applications that allow international physicians completing U.S. training programs to stay in the country to work in underserved areas. The delay may send hundreds of doctors back to their home countries.
States Eye Aid To Prop Up Distressed Hospitals Amid Federal Medicaid Cuts
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Hundreds of hospitals nationwide are bracing for Medicaid cuts as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Some state lawmakers are eyeing loans and other forms of financial aid to distressed hospitals in rural and urban areas, as healthcare providers warn of cuts to critical services and scramble for funding.
As Ranks of Uninsured Grow, Minnesota’s Hospitals Are Among Least Charitable in Nation
By Noam N. Levey and Jeremy Olson, The Minnesota Star Tribune
A Minnesota Star Tribune-KFF Health News investigation of hospital data and charity care programs shows most Minnesota hospitals provide little financial aid to patients and often make assistance difficult to get.
Minnesota Lawmaker Proposes Using Hospital Tax To Fill Charity Care Gap
By Jeremy Olson, The Minnesota Star Tribune
A Minnesota Star Tribune-KFF Health News investigation found charity care at hospitals in the state is offered at low and arbitrary levels, prompting Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to say, “There is more work in front of us.”
License To Deliver: Some Midwives Break the Law To Assist With Home Births
By Lisa Rab
Some states bar professional midwives from attending home births if they don’t have a nursing license. Their advocates say laws to allow midwife licensing would make home birth safer and more accessible, plus help address a maternity care shortage.
Efforts To Understand the Nation’s Drugged Driving Problem Stall Under Trump
By Jace DiCola
The data behind alcohol-related traffic deaths is well studied. Less understood is the toll of vehicle deaths involving drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol. Attempts to fix that have been stymied by federal budget and staffing cuts.