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Montana鈥檚 proposal to increase oversight is part of a national trend by states to ensure nonprofit hospitals act as charitable organizations as they claim tax-exempt status. But the state has yet to set standards for how much the hospitals must do.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden introduced legislation intended to curb a growing problem in which consumers, without their consent, are enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans or their coverage is switched.
An ongoing lawsuit aims to set aside the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 requirements that insurers cover preventive care, such as contraception. If that happens, state reproductive health laws 鈥 varying across the country 鈥 would carry more weight, resuming the 鈥渨ild West鈥 dynamic from before Obamacare.
In a momentous 6-3 decision that could affect communities across the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court gave local officials and law enforcement more authority to fine and penalize homeless people living outside. Advocates for homeless people predict the ruling will lead to more sickness and death.
Proposed state standards to protect indoor workers from extreme heat would extend to schools. The rules come as climate change is bringing more frequent and intense heat waves, causing schools nationwide to cancel instruction.
Los Angeles County, the nation鈥檚 most populous county, is spearheading a comprehensive plan to tackle a $2.9 billion medical debt crisis. Hospitals are still getting on board with the project, which is helmed by the public health department.
Vaccine scare tactics haven鈥檛 shifted, but more parents are falling for them. Here鈥檚 what the rhetoric gets wrong and how it endangers children.
With tens of thousands of Americans already affected by enrollment scams that leave some without doctors or treatments, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden wants increased enforcement against rogue agents or other perpetrators and legislation to allow for criminal penalties.
More than 172,000 nursing home residents died of covid. In lawsuits, some families who lost loved ones say they were misled about safety measures or told that covid wasn鈥檛 a danger in their facilities.
California lawmakers have modified a psychedelic drug bill that was vetoed last year, narrowing it to allow only supervised use of psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy, and other hallucinogens rather than decriminalize more broadly. The current bill would establish new state agencies to regulate the program.
The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November.
Oregon is giving Medicaid patients air conditioners and other equipment to help them cope with soaring heat, smoky skies, and other dangers of climate change. Oregon health officials hope to show other states and the federal government that they can save lives and money.
Nurses are telling lawmakers that there are not enough of them working in hospitals and that it risks patients鈥 lives. California and Oregon legally limit the number of patients under a nurse鈥檚 care. Other states trying to do the same were blocked by the hospital industry. Now patients鈥 relatives are joining the fight.
After rejecting proposed rules to protect millions of workers in sweltering warehouses, steamy kitchens, and other hot workplaces, California Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 administration has offered a compromise to allow the protections to take effect this summer. But state and local correctional workers 鈥 and prisoners 鈥 would have to wait even longer.
Celebrity hotel heiress Paris Hilton is expanding her campaign for more public reporting on residential therapeutic centers鈥 use of restraints and seclusion rooms in disciplining teens, setting her sights on legislation in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing fluoride has some community leaders arguing that its addition to public drinking water is no longer necessary. But public health experts worry that, much like vaccines, fluoridation may be a victim of its own success.
Colorado is ahead of the curve on policies to prevent medical debt, but the gap between the debt load in places inhabited primarily by people of color versus non-Hispanic white residents is greater than the national average.
Proposed rules to protect millions of workers from potentially dangerous heat inside workplaces are dead after Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 administration refused to sign off. Labor advocates and state regulators are calling for emergency regulations before temperatures soar this summer.
New Social Security Commissioner Martin O鈥橫alley is promising to change how the agency reclaims billions of dollars it wrongly pays to beneficiaries, saying the existing process is 鈥渃ruel-hearted and mindless.鈥
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