Category: states
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Opinion: How public health saved the CDC Injury Center
Opinion: How public health saved the CDC Injury Center Last May, the White House released a budget request for FY2026 that proposed eliminating the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Nine months later, President Trump signed into law an appropriations bill that fully funds it for the rest of the fiscal year. Read…
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STAT+: Trump’s latest deal: $600 million of tech company discounts to help implement Medicaid work requirements
STAT+: Trump’s latest deal: $600 million of tech company discounts to help implement Medicaid work requirements Ten technology vendors are offering $600 million worth of discounts to states that pick them to help implement Medicaid work requirements, the Trump administration announced Thursday, signaling how lucrative they think the sweeping change could be. Mehmet Oz, administrator…
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STAT+: HCA expects $1 billion hit from loss of ACA tax credits, Medicaid changes
STAT+: HCA expects $1 billion hit from loss of ACA tax credits, Medicaid changes The country’s biggest hospital chain outlined Tuesday what could be a more than $1 billion hit to profit this year from the expiration of federal tax credits and changes to Medicaid payment programs. For many other companies, it’d be a catastrophic…
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CDC pauses billions in public health infrastructure grants to states
CDC pauses billions in public health infrastructure grants to states WASHINGTON — Federal officials have paused more than 100 grants totaling over $5 billion awarded to states to bolster their public health infrastructure. States and organizations that had gotten funding through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health infrastructure grant received notices on…
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STAT+: Major health insurers like Humana, UnitedHealth are cutting broker commissions to avoid costly Medicare enrollees
STAT+: Major health insurers like Humana, UnitedHealth are cutting broker commissions to avoid costly Medicare enrollees Major health insurers are taking drastic steps to discourage older adults from signing up for their private Medicare plans as they seek to boost profits, drawing the ire of insurance brokers and state regulators. Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Anthem, and Centene,…
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Opinion: Road-tripping through North Dakota to foster healthy conversation about vaccines
Opinion: Road-tripping through North Dakota to foster healthy conversation about vaccines Below is a lightly edited, AI-generated transcript of the “First Opinion Podcast” interview with Sandy Tibke and Josh Gryniewicz. Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get alerts about each new episode…
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STAT+: States reject Dr. Oz’s claims of Medicaid spending on undocumented immigrants
STAT+: States reject Dr. Oz’s claims of Medicaid spending on undocumented immigrants WASHINGTON — Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said Friday that “more than $1 billion of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants” by five states and the District of Columbia in recent months. But…
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Anti-science bills hit statehouses, stripping away public health protections built over a century
Anti-science bills hit statehouses, stripping away public health protections built over a century More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections — vaccines, milk safety and fluoride — have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year, part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law. An Associated Press investigation found that the wave…
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Opinion: How the U.S. health system can clear up confusion surrounding seasonal vaccines
Opinion: How the U.S. health system can clear up confusion surrounding seasonal vaccines Each fall, nurses and doctors brace for an all-too-familiar seasonal surge. Patients struggle to breathe. Older adults lean forward, lips pursed as if trying to drink air through a straw. Infants take more than one shallow breath per second, their wide-eyed panic reflected in their parents’…
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Trump administration cuts undocumented immigrants’ access to range of federally funded programs
Trump administration cuts undocumented immigrants’ access to range of federally funded programs WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday announced it would further curtail undocumented immigrants’ access to federally funded programs, including health care clinics, early childhood education, and nutritional support. The decision reverses a federal practice that has been in place for decades, and is…
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Opinion: Defenders of Medicaid cuts are misunderstanding a study I worked on
Opinion: Defenders of Medicaid cuts are misunderstanding a study I worked on There’s been much discussion and debate about the cuts to Medicaid eligibility that Congress just passed and, in particular, what they may mean for current Medicaid recipients. A key piece of evidence in this debate has been results from the Oregon Health Insurance…
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STAT+: As Trump’s deadline nears, Republicans face substantial disagreement on Medicaid cuts
STAT+: As Trump’s deadline nears, Republicans face substantial disagreement on Medicaid cuts WASHINGTON — With days to go before Congress is set to leave town, lawmakers are still at odds over key Medicaid provisions in the tax bill touted by President Trump. Republicans across the House and Senate are still working out significant disagreements on…
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STAT+: Republicans lean in to new Medicaid cuts
STAT+: Republicans lean in to new Medicaid cuts You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and policy of health and medicine. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s a short, busy week on Capitol Hill. I hope you have Juneteenth off, but I…
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STAT+: Senate GOP proposes to rein in states’ tools to boost Medicaid funding
STAT+: Senate GOP proposes to rein in states’ tools to boost Medicaid funding WASHINGTON — To help pay for President Trump’s tax cuts, the Senate is clamping down on tactics that states use to boost federal Medicaid funding, according to legislation released by the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. The text includes harsher restrictions on…
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STAT+: GOP senators zero in on Medicaid policy in Trump’s tax bill that has little impact on enrollment
STAT+: GOP senators zero in on Medicaid policy in Trump’s tax bill that has little impact on enrollment WASHINGTON — A handful of Republican senators want to dial back federal funding cuts to Medicaid in President Trump’s tax cut package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. But the changes that most of them are…
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25 million cavities and $9.8 billion: Study estimates the costs of removing fluoride from water
25 million cavities and $9.8 billion: Study estimates the costs of removing fluoride from water Even before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office as health secretary, he promised to take action on water fluoridation. He would provide “good information” to municipalities, which regulate the water supply, and “fluoride will disappear,” he said in November. In…
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Amid measles outbreak, Texas is poised to make vaccine exemptions for kids easier
Amid measles outbreak, Texas is poised to make vaccine exemptions for kids easier AUSTIN, Texas — Texas this year has been the center of the nation’s largest measles outbreak in more than two decades, as a mostly eradicated disease has sickened more than 700 in the state, sent dozens to hospitals and led to the death of two children…
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STAT+: How Trump’s tax cut bill would reshape health care
STAT+: How Trump’s tax cut bill would reshape health care WASHINGTON — The House passed President Trump’s tax-cutting plan early Thursday morning with the attendant health care measures to partially pay for it. Relative to earlier drafts, GOP lawmakers revised the bill to further cut government spending, discourage Medicaid expansion, and potentially restrict coverage of…
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STAT+: Maryland governor signs law to expand powers of the state’s prescription drug affordability board
STAT+: Maryland governor signs law to expand powers of the state’s prescription drug affordability board In a notable development, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill that will allow a state board to extend its mandate for lowering prescription drug costs to all residents, not just those employed by government agencies. The move was hailed…
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STAT+: State AI laws would be banned under clause buried in House budget bill
STAT+: State AI laws would be banned under clause buried in House budget bill A small but powerful nugget is buried in the text of the House budget reconciliation bill released this week: a clause that would ban state and local governments from enforcing any laws on AI, even ones that have already been put…
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STAT+: Tennessee officials find Express Scripts violated law governing commercial pharmacy claims
STAT+: Tennessee officials find Express Scripts violated law governing commercial pharmacy claims In an unusual move, an audit of commercial health plans by Tennessee officials found that Express Scripts, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the United States, violated state laws in its dealings with pharmacies, according to newly released documents. Specifically, the…