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About 3.7 million people are at immediate risk of losing health coverage should the federal government cut funding for Medicaid expansions, as some allies of President-elect Donald Trump have proposed. Coverage could be at risk in the 40 states that have expanded Medicaid.
Two Indiana hospital rivals withdrew their application to merge after facing pushback from the Federal Trade Commission and the public.
Hundreds of people and the Federal Trade Commission weighed in on a proposed hospital merger in Terre Haute, Indiana, with most arguing that the creation of a monopoly would increase costs and worsen patient care.
Medications such as methadone can cut the risk of a fatal opioid overdose in half. Medicaid covers the medication. But as state Medicaid programs reevaluated coverage of each enrollee following a pause in disenrollments during the covid-19 pandemic, some patients lost a crucial pillar of their sobriety.
An extra $99 fee on top of a copay for a checkup didn鈥檛 sit right with a listener. Turns out, state legislators across the country aren鈥檛 buying it either.
Hospitals in several states are partnering with a private equity-backed company to offer combined emergency and urgent care in a single building. But patients may not realize prices vary between the two services 鈥 often by a lot.
Colorado defended its high disenrollment rates following the covid crisis by saying that what goes up must come down. Advocates and researchers disagree.
Lead in drinking water is a known danger. But how many of the country鈥檚 estimated 9 million lead service lines need to be replaced 鈥 and how quickly 鈥 is subject to debate. The clock is ticking on two competing plans as the election looms.
Clinicians working for Ascension hospitals in multiple states described harrowing lapses, including delayed or lost lab results, medication errors, and an absence of routine safety checks to prevent potentially fatal mistakes.
If Indiana officials approve a proposed hospital merger in western Indiana in the coming months, the state will have its first hospital monopoly created by a 鈥淐ertificate of Public Advantage.鈥 Other such deals have resulted in government reports documenting diminished care in Tennessee and North Carolina.
A single Central Florida county reported 13% of all U.S. leprosy cases in 2020. Researchers have teamed up to investigate whether armadillos are passing the bacteria that cause the disease to humans 鈥 which is especially concerning as the animals expand their range farther north.
Johns Dental Laboratories stopped making the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance last year after a 吃瓜不打烊-CBS News investigation into allegations of patient harm. The company had 鈥渘ever鈥 reported any complaints about its products to the FDA, according to the agency.
The national opioid settlements don鈥檛 prohibit using money for initiatives already supported by other means, but doing so could dilute the impact.
A week after the Florida Supreme Court said the state could enforce an abortion ban passed in 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that state could enforce a near-total ban passed in 1864 鈥 over a half-century before Arizona became a state. The move further scrambled the abortion issue for Republicans and posed an immediate quandary for former President Donald Trump, who has been seeking an elusive middle ground in the polarized debate. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Molly Castle Work, who reported and wrote the latest 吃瓜不打烊-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 feature, about an air-ambulance ride for an infant with RSV that his insurer deemed not medically necessary.
State institutions and community hospitals have closed inpatient mental health units, often citing staffing and financial challenges. Now, for-profit companies are opening psychiatric hospitals to fill the void.
After a decade of work, a Kentucky program launched to diagnose lung cancer earlier is beginning to change the prognosis for residents by catching tumors when they鈥檙e more treatable.
Doctors, patients, and hospitals have railed for years about the prior authorization processes that health insurers use to decide whether they鈥檒l pay for patients鈥 drugs or medical procedures. The Biden administration announced a crackdown in January, but some state lawmakers are looking to go further.
A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services raises troubling questions about the use of powerful medications within Florida鈥檚 child welfare system and the risk of overdoses or dangerous side effects if children are given the wrong combination of drugs.
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