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Apache tribal members are already feeling psychological and spiritual harm as the Trump administration moves to fast-track a deal to turn their sacred land of Oak Flat, Arizona, into a copper mine.
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Patients seeking mental health care are more likely to be on Medicaid than patients in more profitable areas of care, such as cancer or cardiac treatment.
A new training program teaches workers to stop the baby talk and address older people as adults.
The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce laws requiring parity in insurance coverage of mental and physical health care.
The legislation calls for a new mental health facility in eastern Montana, upgrades to existing state facilities, expansion of community services, and revisions to commitment procedures.
Like local jails nationwide, Montana’s small holding facilities have become institutions of last resort as patients in mental health crisis stall in backlogs, waiting for beds at the state-run mental hospital.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said this month that "autism destroys families,” adding that “most cases are now severe” and describing children who will never work, play baseball, write poetry, or go on a date. Medical experts and people on the autism spectrum say Kennedy’s portrayal was skewed.
People with dementia often forget even close family members as the disease advances. “It can throw people into an existential crisis,” an expert said.
In many cases, the money flowed to addiction recovery programs that help rebuild lives by driving people to medical appointments and court hearings, crafting résumés and training them for new jobs, finding them housing, and helping them build social connections unrelated to drugs.
In the wake of an executive order by President Donald Trump opposing gender-affirming surgeries for minors, hospitals are pausing procedures — even those already scheduled. Families fear the eventual loss of all gender-affirming care for their transgender kids.
California has unilaterally halted a court-ordered medical parole program. Instead, it’s sending its most incapacitated prisoners back to state lockups or releasing them early. The change is drawing protests from attorneys representing prisoners and the author of the medical parole law, who argue prisoners’ health may be compromised.
During his first news conference as Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 16 ticked off things he thinks kids with autism will never do, including paying taxes, holding a job, and going on a date. Kennedy’s comments go against science and reality.
The U.S. faces a crucial shortage of medical providers, especially in rural areas. The problem has been building for a while, experts say, but the pandemic accelerated it by pushing many doctors over the edge into early retirement or other fields.
Tensions between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his employees at the Department of Health and Human Services are mounting, as he made a series of claims about autism this week — contradicting his agency’s findings. Plus, President Donald Trump unveiled an executive order to lower drug prices as his administration explores tariffs that could raise them. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more. Plus, KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews two University of California-San Francisco researchers about an upcoming Supreme Court case that could have major ramifications for preventive care.
Emotionally overwhelmed, an Indiana woman dialed a mental health hotline. She didn’t find the help she was looking for and hung up. Ultimately, she was handcuffed and hospitalized overnight. Now, amid federal cuts, she and others fear the U.S. response to similar crises will revert to more responses like that.
The Latino communities who make up significant proportions of year-round populations in Colorado’s mountain towns already experience heightened mental health concerns. Now, deportation fears are increasing their stress.
Colorado was long considered a haven for gender-affirming care. But under this Trump administration, hospitals in the state have limited the treatments available for people under 19. Some services have been restored, but trans youth and their families say the state isn’t the rock they thought it was.
Amid a youth mental health crisis and a shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, residents of a St. Louis suburb opposed a plan to build a 77-bed pediatric mental health hospital. Resistance to such facilities has occurred in other communities as misconceptions about mental health spur fear.
Pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the nation’s opioid crisis are paying state and local governments billions of dollars in legal settlements. But how much are victims who suffered addiction and overdoses getting?
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