Medicaid

Gov. Kathy Hochul used the $237 billion budget to wedge in contentious issues like extending Mayor Eric Adams’s control over New York City schools.

Among those with substance use disorders who have been referred to child welfare, less than half received medication or counseling.

In the year after a pandemic-era policy preserving Medicaid coverage lapsed, more than 20 million people were dropped from the program at some point.

The state hopes to take advantage of Medicaid reimbursement rules to divert federal funds into state coffers.

As Southern states reconsider Medicaid expansion, Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas is pushing her own plan meant to appeal to conservatives. So far, success has been elusive.

Federal law requires states to seek reimbursement from the assets, usually homes, of people who died after receiving benefits for long-term care.

Americans’ economic pessimism.

Now that federal pandemic-era funds are shrinking, states like Indiana are ending or curtailing programs that finance home care by relatives of seriously ill children and adults.

Ozempic threatens to bust the national budget. That may finally force the government to address the problem of overly expensive medical treatments.

The end of a pandemic-era policy that barred states from pushing people off Medicaid is threatening the financial stability of the U.S. safety net.