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Since 2017, Medicaid expansion has been adopted in seven states where a question was placed directly on the ballot. But campaign leaders say that strategy may not work in Florida and Wyoming, where Republican opposition remains strong.
Only a sliver of the funding given to state, local, and tribal governments through the American Rescue Plan Act has been steered to mental health nationwide, but mental health advocates and clinicians hope the money it provides will help address gaps in care for children. In Appalachian Ohio, the funding is helping expand services.
Low-income residents in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are in a tough spot: They don’t qualify for the subsidies that people with slightly higher incomes get to buy marketplace plans because of a glitch in the federal health law. But a court decision last year makes it easier for them to make good-faith estimates of a pay increase, and there is no financial penalty if they don’t hit that figure.
South Dakotans voted to expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover thousands of additional low-income residents. But as other conservative states have shown, voter approval doesn’t always mean politicians and administrators will rush to implement the change.
Although control of Congress was still undecided Wednesday, Republicans seemed poised to take power in the House, while the fate of the Senate remained too close to call. Economic issues were at the top of voters’ minds, but abortion access also played a large role in their decisions.
A broad coalition of Medicaid expansion supporters faces off against a smaller group of opponents as early voting begins on a constitutional amendment that would increase coverage under South Dakota’s program.
In many cities, social workers and counselors are responding to mental health emergencies that used to be solely handled by police. That approach is spreading to rural areas even though mental health professionals are scarcer and travel distances are longer.
People in jails and prisons are particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota allows people to buy and use recreational marijuana but not alcohol. Some tribal citizens say cannabis is safer than alcohol, meth, and opioids — which have wreaked havoc on the state’s Indigenous communities.
On July 16, a three-digit number, 988, became the centerpiece of a nationwide effort to unify responses to Americans experiencing mental health crises. But many people, especially those in rural areas, will continue to find themselves far from help if they need more support than call operators can offer.
A lack of Native physicians means many tribal communities rely on doctors who don’t share their lived experience, culture, or spiritual beliefs. In Episode 9, meet two medical students working to join the ranks of Indigenous physicians.
Medical breakthroughs mean cancer is less likely to kill, but survival can come at an extraordinary cost as patients drain savings, declare bankruptcy, or lose their homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.
The surge of calls for special legislative sessions to pass abortion laws is an unusual occurrence in modern U.S. history, according to experts — one caused by the Supreme Court’s decision to give states more power to regulate abortion.
Montana is an island of legal abortion, but three of the state’s five clinics are limiting access to abortion pills for out-of-state patients in an effort to protect themselves and patients from legal attacks.
By undoing that landmark decision, the law of the land since 1973, the court has empowered states to set their own abortion restrictions — so where people live will determine their level of access.
The notion that Native American nations could use tribal sovereignty to bypass state restrictions on abortion if Roe v. Wade falls is an idea largely proposed by non-Native groups.
Most of the dozen states that haven’t fully expanded eligibility for Medicaid have extended or plan to extend the postpartum coverage window for new mothers. That could mean improved maternal health, but it’s only part of the puzzle when it comes to reducing the number of preventable maternal deaths in the U.S.
People talk about the sacrifices they made when health care forced them into debt.
For many women, abortion access has also meant better economic opportunities. But that could change in states that plan to ban most abortion access if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. And those constraints could have a big impact on Black women. In Tennessee, Black women have abortions at more than four times the rate of white women.
A Wyoming clinic slated to open this summer would be the only one in the state to provide procedural abortions and the closest option for some people in surrounding states. But its fate is uncertain now that the Supreme Court looks poised to strike down Roe v. Wade.
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