At Social Security, These Are the Days of the Living Dead
In recent weeks, Social Security has been plagued by problems related to technology, system errors, and even the marking of living people as dead.
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In recent weeks, Social Security has been plagued by problems related to technology, system errors, and even the marking of living people as dead.
When a New York physician was indicted for shipping abortion medications to a woman in Louisiana, it stoked fear across the network of doctors and medical clinics who engage in similar work. But some physicians vowed not to stop.
The legislation calls for a new mental health facility in eastern Montana, upgrades to existing state facilities, expansion of community services, and revisions to commitment procedures.
Food banks nationwide are being pinched by record demand, high food prices, and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal budget cuts. As the economy plods onto shaky ground, food bank leaders hope Congress patches the holes by passing a new farm bill.
The Biden administration shut off federal family planning grants to Tennessee and Oklahoma after the states directed clinics not to provide abortion counseling. The Trump administration restored the money, claiming two lawsuits were settled. They weren’t.
Like local jails nationwide, Montana’s small holding facilities have become institutions of last resort as patients in mental health crisis stall in backlogs, waiting for beds at the state-run mental hospital.
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In many cases, the money flowed to addiction recovery programs that help rebuild lives by driving people to medical appointments and court hearings, crafting résumés and training them for new jobs, finding them housing, and helping them build social connections unrelated to drugs.
Montana’s powerful hospital lobby was instrumental in renewing the state’s Medicaid expansion program and has also fended off most legislation to increase state oversight of their business.
Roughly 20 states now have laws permitting families to place cameras in the rooms of loved ones. Facility operators are often opposed.
A Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News analysis underscores how the terminations have spared no part of the country, politically or geographically. Of the organizations that had grants cut in the first month, about 40% are in states President Donald Trump won in November.
The Latino communities who make up significant proportions of year-round populations in Colorado’s mountain towns already experience heightened mental health concerns. Now, deportation fears are increasing their stress.
Republicans are pushing to implement requirements that Medicaid recipients work in order to obtain or retain coverage. Some states try to help enrollees find jobs. But states lack the data to show whether they’re effective.
Colorado was long considered a haven for gender-affirming care. But under this Trump administration, hospitals in the state have limited the treatments available for people under 19. Some services have been restored, but trans youth and their families say the state isn’t the rock they thought it was.
Amid a youth mental health crisis and a shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, residents of a St. Louis suburb opposed a plan to build a 77-bed pediatric mental health hospital. Resistance to such facilities has occurred in other communities as misconceptions about mental health spur fear.
Preventing and detecting bird flu infections among farmworkers is a key defense against a potential pandemic. Immigration raids and threats have undermined these efforts, researchers say.
Fentanyl overdoses occur from ingesting the synthetic opioid. But popular culture has misrepresented the risks to first responders.
Federal funding cuts, though temporarily blocked by a judge, have upended vaccination clinics across the country, including in Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, and Washington state, amid a rise in vaccine hesitancy and a resurgence of measles.
Some rural hospitals have canceled — or are considering ending — contracts with insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans, saying the private policies jeopardize their finances and impede patient care.
As the fires burned in Los Angeles, scientists and local air regulators deployed monitors to measure the levels of heavy metals, carcinogens, and other toxic substances released into the air when homes, buildings, and cars burned. They hope their efforts will inform ongoing cleanup efforts and protect the public in future fires.
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