Bad Medicine
Cardinal & Pine brings you Bad Medicine, a wide-ranging look at how new federal healthcare policies threaten to overwhelm already overwhelmed doctors and nurses, widen health disparities in rural areas, and make North Carolinians sicker.
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Confronting the ghosts haunting healthcare in North Carolina
Cardinal & Pine’s Bad Medicine series sought to highlight the dangers that federal healthcare policy changes posed to North Carolina, especially its children. The series is ending, but the stories of courage and resolve endure.
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What traveling across rural NC taught me about America’s broken healthcare system
In an age of healthcare advancements, and in a state where growth and opportunities seem readily available, many of the state’s communities are simply being left behind.
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Republicans’ Medicaid cuts could disrupt the healthcare that’s kept these NC kids alive
Republicans often equate the raw cost of Medicaid with waste and abuse, a dangerous oversimplification for families whose healthcare needs are both genuine and extremely expensive.
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What happens when a rural hospital closes? Martin County knows all too well
The 2023 closing of Martin General left 21,000 people without access to emergency health care. In a county where nearly a third of the community relies on Medicaid, the consequences have been severe.
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As measles cases rise, NC doctors fight vaccine hesitancy
The best place to counter online falsehoods is the local doctor’s office, where many physicians have treated patients from infancy through adulthood. The measles virus evades your body’s defenses by initially disguising itself as part of the immune system, kind of like when Robert DeNiro dressed as an EMT to steal an ambulance in the…
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Life-saving medications rescued a Halifax County man from fentanyl addiction
The opioid crisis has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of North Carolinians. While some patients are able to access medication to treat addiction, most adults seeking treatment still struggle to access medications for Opioid Use Disorder.
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The Affordable Care Act turns 16, but the fight for affordable health care is far from over in NC
The ACA helped North Carolina expand Medicaid to more than 720,000 people, and prevented insurers from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
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Federal judge blocks HHS vaccine changes, citing a lack of scientific rigor
A US District Court sided with major medical institutions that the changes pushed by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were unlawful partly because they valued politics over expertise.
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Medicaid helps keep this NC teen alive and at home. Trump’s health care cuts will put her at risk.
With Medicaid cuts looming, the families of North Carolinians who rely on it are worried about what comes next for their loved ones.
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North Carolina’s ERs are already strained. Trump’s Medicaid cuts could make it worse.
If people lose insurance, they often rely on emergency rooms. But ERs were never intended to replace primary care, doctors warn
