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Latest California Healthline Stories

When Hospitals and Insurers Fight, Patients Get Caught in the Middle

About 90,000 people spent months in limbo as central Missouri’s major, and often only, provider fought over insurance contracts. Patients getting caught in the crossfire of disputes has become a familiar complication, as about 8% of hospitals have left an insurer network since 2021. Trump administration policies could accelerate the trend.

An Insurer Agreed To Cover Her Surgery. A Politician’s Nudge Got the Bills Paid.

A kindergartner in Missouri needed eye surgery. Her insurer granted approval for her to see a specialist nearby, yet her parents were confused when they still owed more than $13,000. Then her uncle, a former state senator, reached out to a colleague who contacted the hospital and the insurer.

Native Americans Want To Avoid Past Medicaid Enrollment Snafus as Work Requirements Loom

As states prepare to implement changes to Medicaid required by President Donald Trump’s recent tax-and-spending law, tribal leaders say they are concerned Native American enrollees could lose their coverage, despite exemptions made by Congress.

Planned Parenthood Bets on Redistricting To Push Back Against GOP Funding Cuts

Alarmed at Republicans’ deep cuts to health care and restrictions on reproductive rights, advocates are supporting California’s effort to counter a mid-decade gerrymander by the Texas GOP to pad their party’s fragile U.S. House majority.

Guns, Race, and Profit: The Pain of America’s Other Epidemic

Firearm violence is killing Americans at the scale of a public health epidemic. The suffering is concentrated in Black neighborhoods damaged by segregation, disinvestment, hate crimes, and other forms of racial discrimination.

‘A Fear Pandemic’: Immigration Raids Are Pushing Patients Into Telehealth

With intensified immigration enforcement in California, community clinics serving Latino and immigrant populations say they’ve noticed an increase in appointment cancellations and telehealth usage. But, as the covid-19 pandemic showed, accessing the necessary technology can be a challenge and virtual appointments can take a person’s health care only so far.

Experts Say Rural Emergency Rooms Are Increasingly Run Without Doctors

Some doctors and the groups that represent them say physicians’ extensive training leads to better emergency care, and that some hospitals are trying to save money by not hiring them. They support new laws in Indiana, Virginia, and South Carolina that require physicians to be on-site 24/7.