Category: NPR

Reporters Pick Their Favorite Global Stories Of The Decade

The topics range from a ticking time bomb in the Arctic to the art of taking selfies in an ethical way. Here are the stories selected by our contributors.

A Decade Marked By Outrage Over Drug Prices

Nearly 1 in 4 Americans has trouble affording prescription drugs, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Over the past decade, high prices of several medicines have become flashpoints.

Rural Areas Across The Country Face Drastic Shortage Of Mental Health Care

When the last psychiatrist in International Falls, Minn., retired that meant that there is no psychiatrists for more than 100 miles. It’s a story increasingly common across rural America.

Utah And Idaho Set To Expand Medicaid Programs

Utah and Idaho are set to join the states that have expanded their Medicaid programs for low-income people under the Affordable Care Act.

Rural Hospitals Continue To Close

Nearly 20 rural hospitals closed in 2019, more than any year in the past decade. And more are expected to close. These rural hospitals often see too few patients to pay for their costs.

1 Year After Losing Its Hospital, A Rural Town Is Determined To Survive

Anger and fear have turned to pragmatic hope in the year since the people of Fort Scott, Kan., lost their hospital to corporate downsizing. A community health center remains. So far, so good.

Hospital Tries Day Care For Patients

Child care sometimes gets in the way of health care for busy moms. Now a hospital in Dallas is trying something new to help parents not miss so many doctor’s appointments.

Working The Christmas Shift, 2 Young Doctors Learn What It Means To Be A Healer

There’s more to being a good doctor than providing medical care to your patients, physicians learn early in their training. And sometimes that lesson comes at the darkest time of year.

Examining Health Care Spending Since Obamacare

NPR’s Noel King talks to David Wessel of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution about health care spending since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law 10 years ago.

New Report Shows That An Alarming Number Of Children Are Being Poisoned By Opioids

A new study finds that children are being poisoned by opioids, and a growing number of them in recent years are ending up in pediatric ICUs for lifesaving procedures.