Category: states

Amid Medicaid ‘Unwinding,’ Many States Wind Up Expansions

The end of pandemic-era Medicaid coverage protections coincided with changes in more than a dozen states to expand coverage for lower-income people, including children, pregnant women, and the incarcerated.

Inside Conservative Activist Leonard Leo’s Long Campaign To Gut Planned Parenthood

Anti-abortion groups and their allies secured a generational victory in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned “Roe v. Wade.” A lawsuit in Texas demonstrates how those same forces threaten access to other health services, including birth control and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections.

Most Black Hospitals Across the South Closed Long Ago. Their Impact Endures.

Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, was established to exclusively admit Black patients during a time when Jim Crow laws barred them from accessing the same health care facilities as white patients. Its closure underscores how hundreds of Black hospitals in the U.S. fell casualty to social progress.

Kids Who Survived Super Bowl Shooting Are Scared, Suffering Panic Attacks and Sleep Problems

Six months after the Feb. 14 parade, parents of survivors under 18 years old say their children are deeply changed. In this installment of “The Injured,” we meet kids who survived the mass shooting only to live with long-term emotional scars.

Opioid Settlements Promise Mississippi a Windfall. What Happens Next?

Millions of dollars from national opioid settlements are pouring into Mississippi. The state and localities haven’t spent much yet. In many cases, how the money will be used is up in the air.

Watch: How Patients Get Charged Hospital Prices for Doctor’s Office Care

This installment of InvestigateTV and KFF Health News’ “Costly Care” series digs into patients’ getting charged hospital prices for doctor’s office care. For five years, a patient got the same injection from the same office. Then it changed how it billed and she owed more than $1,100 for one treatment.

California Bill Would Require State Review of Private Equity Deals in Health Care

Proposed legislation would require the state attorney general’s consent for a wide range of private equity acquisitions in health care. The hospital lobby negotiated an exemption for for-profit hospitals.

Medi-Cal’s Dental Care Gap: Getting a Tooth Pulled Is Easy — Much Harder To Get an Implant

California is among a growing number of states that offer dental benefits to low-income residents, but some lawmakers want the state to go further by covering more cleanings and costlier implants. Dentists and health experts worry the approach doesn’t address the root of the problem: Many providers don’t accept Medicaid.

Violent Dementia Patients Leave Nursing Home Staffers and Residents ‘Scared to Death’

Clashes between residents — verbal, physical, and sexual — can be spontaneous and too unpredictable to prevent. But the chance of an altercation increases when memory care homes admit and retain residents they can’t manage, according to a KFF Health News examination of inspection and court records and interviews with researchers.

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: The Walz Record

Vice President Kamala Harris this week officially became the Democratic nominee for president and named Minnesota governor and former U.S. congressman Tim Walz as her running mate. Meanwhile, a new study finds the number of abortions taking place since the overturn of “Roe v. Wade” continued to rise into early this year, despite the imposition of abortion bans around the country. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.