Category: states

Sick Profit: Investigating Private Equity’s Stealthy Takeover of Health Care Across Cities and Specialties

Private equity firms have shelled out almost $1 trillion to acquire nearly 8,000 health care businesses, in deals almost always hidden from federal regulators. The result: higher prices, lawsuits, and complaints about care.

‘Impending Intergenerational Crisis’: Americans With Disabilities Lack Long-Term Care Plans

Many Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities do not have long-term plans for when family members can no longer care for them. Families, researchers, and advocates worry that has set the stage for a crisis in which people with disabilities could end up living in institutional settings.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Midterm Shake-Up

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on Acast. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. The predicted Republican “red wave” was a no-show in this week’s midterm elections, but the margins in both the U.S. House and Senate are so small that […]

Stopping the Churn: Why Some States Want to Guarantee Medicaid Coverage From Birth to Age 6

Oregon has become the first state to allow kids to stay in the government health care program from birth to age 6, no matter if their household income changes. California, Washington, and New Mexico are pursuing similar policies.

Homelessness Among Older People Is on the Rise, Driven by Inflation and the Housing Crunch

In Montana and across the nation, homeless shelters are reporting that people older than 60 are a growing proportion of their populations.

Fentanyl in High School: A Texas Community Grapples With the Reach of the Deadly Opioid

The first fentanyl-related deaths of students in an area south of Austin, Texas, were reported over the summer. The school district, parents, and students are trying to deal with the aftermath.

South Dakota Voters Approved Medicaid Expansion, but Implementation May Not Be Easy

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.

Abortion Issue Helps Limit Democrats’ Losses in Midterms

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.

Ad Goes Too Far With Claim That Joe Biden Promotes Surgery for Trans Teens

Even some medical experts who are skeptical of gender-affirming care say the White House is not promoting breast removal and genital surgery for teens. But that’s not what an ad, funded by a group led by a former adviser to President Donald Trump, would have you believe.

Listen: With Abortion Rights on the Ballot in Michigan, Women Tell Their Stories

Women who need abortion care come to Michigan from surrounding states that already have banned the procedure. A clinic in suburban Detroit allowed a reporter to interview patients, doctors, and nurses to understand what is at stake as voters decide whether to guarantee abortion access in the Michigan Constitution.