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States facing yawning budget shortfalls have begun cutting Medicaid reimbursements for a wide variety of services. In some states, dramatic cuts are targeting therapies that many families of autistic people say are essential to caring for their loved ones.
There has been a steep rise in the share of people with severe mental illnesses being sent to state psychiatric hospitals on court orders after being accused of serious crimes. The shift has all but halted patients鈥 ability to get care before they have a catastrophic crisis.
The Trump administration has championed its Rural Health Transformation Program as an investment in American families who have been left behind. But Native American tribes, whose communities have a significant presence in rural America and have some of the greatest health needs, are ineligible to apply directly for funding.
Even as the federal government resumed funding the nation鈥檚 largest food assistance program, people risk losing access to the aid because of new rules.
Federal funding that paid for covid testing, treatment, and vaccines for uninsured people has run out. While some states struggle to make up the difference, California is relying on other state and local programs to continue free testing.
Democratic legislators back measures that would end the 鈥減ink tax鈥 on diapers and menstrual products, provide mental health support, and pilot a guaranteed-income program.
Montana is one of the latest states looking to aggressively check welfare eligibility to cut costs. Supporters of such steps say it鈥檚 about what鈥檚 fair 鈥 weeding out those who don鈥檛 qualify for assistance 鈥 while opponents say it will cut loose enrollees who actually need help.
Legislators in statehouses across the U.S. face the dual challenge of budgeting in a covid-crippled economy while planning for the pandemic鈥檚 long-term effects on mental health and substance abuse services.
As the nation hollowed out its public health infrastructure for decades, staffing and funding fell faster and further in Florida. Then the coronavirus ran roughshod, infecting more than half a million people and killing thousands.
KHN senior Colorado correspondent Markian Hawryluk joined KUNC鈥檚 Erin O鈥橳oole on 鈥淐olorado Edition鈥 to discuss his recent story on health care cuts that many states, including Colorado, are having to take amid the pandemic.
Across the country, the recession has cut state revenues at the same time the COVID-19 pandemic has increased costs, forcing state lawmakers into painful decisions about how to balance their budgets. Health care is one of the targets even in the midst of a health care crisis.
Public health officials are asking for more money in California鈥檚 state budget. But unlike some rich and powerful health care interests, they don鈥檛 have an army of lobbyists to curry favor with lawmakers.
Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.
Before the coronavirus hit, California was looking at a budget surplus of more than $5 billion and lawmakers were debating how to increase the size of government health programs. Now, the state faces a deficit, program cuts, high unemployment 鈥 and no significant investment in public health funding at a time when the state needs it the most.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom charged into 2020 with ambitious 鈥 and expensive 鈥 proposals to increase health insurance coverage, reduce homelessness and tackle drug prices. Then came COVID-19.
California lawmakers spent big on Medi-Cal in the 2019-20 state budget, voting to cover more older residents and people with disabilities, restore benefits cut during the recession and open the program to eligible young adults who are in the country illegally.聽
California鈥檚 governor Friday scuttled his plan to siphon public health money from four counties to help provide health coverage for unauthorized immigrants ages 19 through 25.
The Trump administration has talked about prioritizing the opioid crisis, but states have seen little in the way of new resources. And, in some states, getting into treatment is becoming even harder.
The California Nurses Association, representing some 100,000 registered nurses, is regarded statewide and nationally as a progressive political powerhouse. 鈥淧oliticians are afraid鈥 of the activists they turn out, said one critic.
California has reported more than 500 travel-related Zika infections, and five babies have been born in the state with birth defects related to the mosquito-borne disease.
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