🖤 Donations of all sizes power our public service journalism Give Now

The high cost of mental health inequities

May 16, 2024
Lots of people in this country don’t have access to good mental health care — and that's expensive for society.
Investing in things like housing, education, food and medical care makes a big difference in a person's health outcomes.
Javi Sanz/Getty Images

Fewer medical students apply for residencies in states with abortion bans

May 14, 2024
According to new data from the Research and Action Institute at the Association of American Medical Colleges, OB/GYN, internal medicine, and emergency medicine programs saw the biggest drops — around 7% or 8%.
Across the board, applications for medical residencies in states that banned abortions fell by more than 4%
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Why one New York health system stopped suing its patients

May 14, 2024
Most U.S. hospitals aggressively pursue patients for unpaid bills. One New York hospital system decided to work with them instead.
Nationally, nearly half of adults are unable to cover a $500 medical bill without going into debt, a 2022 KFF poll found.
DNY59/Getty Images

More companies are adopting policies to support employees recovering from addiction

May 13, 2024
Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. have a substance use disorder, and most are in the workforce. Could employers take a bigger role in recovery?
Research shows that recovery-supportive workplace policies can reduce turnover costs, injuries, accidents and health care costs.
SDI Productions/Getty Images

How GE made history: a look back at an iconic conglomerate

May 8, 2024
In April, General Electric split itself up to focus on wind power, aerospace and health care. Its finance and media divisions are long gone.
A General Electric employee viewed rows of wind turbine parts in 2021. GE was an "incredible industrial company and built truly incredible things," reporter Ted Mann said.
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images

Lawmakers and hospitals are divided on providing free care for tax breaks

Nonprofit hospitals say legislative efforts that require them to provide more free care could hurt the people they are intended to help.
Nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. provided $16 billion in charity care in 2020, according to health policy research group KFF, while receiving $28 billion in tax breaks.
Sergey Tinyakov/Getty Images

Feds establish new rules for health care staffing and pay

Apr 24, 2024
The changes aim to bolster pay for providers — many of them low-income immigrants — and require higher minimum staffing levels.
New standards from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aim to upgrade the pay and services provided by home health aides.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Abortion included among pregnancy-related conditions covered under new EEOC guidelines

Apr 18, 2024
Guidelines for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act detail the accommodations pregnant workers can seek under the law, including unpaid leave.
Above, an exam room at an Illinois abortion clinic.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

More immigration means gains for U.S. economy, CBO says

The agency's estimates that immigrants will add $7 trillion to gross domestic product over the next decade.
Immigrants have filled jobs that employers had struggled to find workers for, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Women pay more than men for health care. That's leading some of them to declare bankruptcy.

Apr 8, 2024
Even when pregnancy-related costs are stripped out, women still pay more than men.
Female employees spend about $266 a year more out-of-pocket for health care than their male colleagues, a Deloitte study finds.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images