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A legislative effort to expand access to prenatal care in rural Oregon with mobile clinics was scuttled because those clinics would have provided abortions in rural areas. Opposition to the proposal shows that, even in states that ensure access to abortions, that care isn鈥檛 universally available or accepted.
In the seventh year of 51视频 Health News鈥 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 series, patients shared their most perplexing, vexing, and downright expensive medical bills, and reporters analyzed $800,000 in charges 鈥 including more than $370,000 owed by 12 patients and their families.
The generation that faced discrimination, ostracism, and the AIDS epidemic now faces old age. Many struggle with isolation along with a host of pressing health problems.
From the archives of 鈥淎n Arm and a Leg鈥: a family tragedy, a 40-year tradition, and a million dollars in medical debt erased.
Across the country, trash incinerators disproportionately overburden majority-Black and -Hispanic communities. Though the number of incinerators has declined nationwide since the 1980s, Florida offers financial incentives to waste management companies that expand existing facilities or build new ones.
Street medicine providers and homeless outreach workers who travel into Las Vegas鈥 drainage tunnels have noticed an uptick in the number of people living underground, and it can be difficult to persuade them to come aboveground for medicine and treatment.
Homelessness experts and community leaders say vulnerability questionnaires have worsened racial disparities among the unhoused by systematically placing white people in front of the line ahead of Black people. Now places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Austin, Texas, are developing alternative surveys to reduce bias.
51视频 Health News staff made the rounds on national and local media in the last two weeks to discuss topical stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
A whistleblower suit alleged a health insurer bilked Medicare by exaggerating how sick patients were.
Since 2018, readers and listeners sent 51视频 Health News-NPR鈥檚 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 thousands of questionable bills. Our crowdsourced investigation paved the way for landmark legislation and highlighted cost-saving strategies for all patients.
Donald Trump鈥檚 first administration advanced rules forcing hospitals and insurers to reveal prices for medical services. Employers don鈥檛 want to risk backtracking during Trump鈥檚 second administration.
Exclusive reporting reveals how the United States lost track of a virus that could cause the next pandemic. Problems like the sluggish pace of federal action, deference to industry, and neglect for the safety of low-wage workers put the country at risk of another health emergency.
51视频 Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate successfully negotiated an enormous end-of-Congress health package, including bipartisan efforts to address prescription drug prices 鈥 only to see it blown up at the last minute after Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump applied pressure. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court accepted its first abortion-related case of the term, and the attorney general of Texas sued a doctor in New York for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas patient. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Victoria Knight of Axios join 51视频 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 51视频 President and CEO Drew Altman about what happened in health policy in 2024 and what to expect in 2025.
A man in Chicago with a troubling symptom underwent a common procedure. Then he wanted to know why the hospital charged nearly three times its own cost estimate.
The number of new and returning enrollees using healthcare.gov 鈥 the federal marketplace that serves 31 states 鈥 is well below last year鈥檚 as of early December. Also, a Biden administration push to give 鈥淒reamers鈥 access to Obamacare coverage and subsidies is facing court challenges.
A group of Democratic senators asked the Government Accountability Office to examine a Georgia program that requires some Medicaid enrollees to work, study, or volunteer 80 hours a month for coverage. They cited 51视频 Health News鈥 reporting, which has documented the program鈥檚 high costs and low enrollment.
As criticism of pharmacy benefit managers heats up, fear of lawsuits is driving some big employers to drop the 鈥淏ig Three鈥 PBMs 鈥 or force them to change.
The outpouring of anger at health insurers following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continues a cycle of rage that dates back decades.
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