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Some rural hospitals have canceled — or are considering ending — contracts with insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans, saying the private policies jeopardize their finances and impede patient care.
Enrollment of underrepresented groups at medical schools fell precipitously this academic year after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on affirmative action. Education and health experts worry the Trump administration’s anti-DEI measures will only worsen the situation, even in states like California that have navigated bans on race-conscious admissions for years.
Patients and providers say health insurers’ preapproval requirements lead to delays and denials of needed medical treatments. Insurers argue that prior authorization keeps costs down.
To deliver on pledges from the new Trump administration to make America healthy again, policymakers will need to close gaps in longevity among racial and ethnic groups.
The number of new and returning enrollees using healthcare.gov — the federal marketplace that serves 31 states — is well below last year’s as of early December. Also, a Biden administration push to give “Dreamers” access to Obamacare coverage and subsidies is facing court challenges.
A federal judge sided with 19 states seeking an injunction against a Biden administration rule allowing recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to enroll in Affordable Care Act coverage and qualify for subsidies amid the annual open enrollment period.
A Biden administration rule that imposed minimum rules on nursing levels may not survive, even though many homes lack enough workers to maintain residents’ care.
The National Indian Health Board has urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency as an alarming syphilis outbreak, which disproportionately affects Native Americans, continues. This is the latest plea for more resources from tribal leaders after previous requests went unanswered.
Voters in 10 states weighed in on abortion rights this election. Despite the results supporting abortion rights in seven of those states, much of the abortion landscape on abortion won’t change much immediately, as medical providers navigate the legal hurdles that remain.
The coronavirus pandemic underscored the importance of paid sick leave, a benefit to help workers and their families when they fall ill. Now voters in Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska are deciding whether employers must provide it.
Democratic congressional hopefuls in California are highlighting the anti-abortion records of vulnerable Republican incumbents, many of whom have moderated their stances ahead of the election. With control of the U.S. House at stake, Democrats hope to convince voters that their candidates will do more to protect women’s health.
For decades, state and federal agencies have restricted or delayed tribes and tribal epidemiology centers from accessing public health data, a blackout that leaves health workers in Native American communities cobbling together information to guide their work, including tracking devastating disease outbreaks.
911 outages have hit at least eight states this year. They’re emblematic of problems plaguing emergency response communications due in part to wide disparities in capabilities and funding.
Nurse practitioners have been viewed as a key to addressing the shortage of primary care physicians. But data suggests that, just like doctors, they are increasingly drawn to better-paying specialties.
The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November.
It’s estimated that an older patient can spend three weeks of the year getting care — and that doesn’t count the time it takes to arrange appointments or deal with insurance companies.
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.
Even in states where laws protect minors’ access to gender-affirming care, malpractice insurance premiums are keeping small and independent clinics from treating patients.
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