Stories tagged: "health care"


Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks during a news conference in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
GOP Plans Could Include Deep Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act

House Republicans want to apply deep cuts to everything from health insurance to food assistance benefits, an effort that would plunge millions more Americans into extreme poverty.  

Image via Shutterstock
Crippling Health Workforce Shortages Mean Hospitals Can’t Admit Mental Health Patients—Even if Beds Are Empty

The NC Department of Health and Human Services' new bed tracker found that during the week of Feb. 20, 489 people were waiting to be admitted to one of the state’s psychiatric facilities, with 253 of them were waiting for a psychiatric hospital.  

Doctors from across the state at a news conference at the General Assembly on Wednesday. More than 1,100 medical professionals in North Carolina signed an open letter calling on legislators to reject any new abortion restrictions. (Photo: Michael McElroy)
NC Doctors Offer a Grim Warning About the Dangers of Abortion Bans

Abortion rights advocates have increased their efforts in recent weeks to highlight just how perilous abortion access is in North Carolina.

Photograph via Dana Bango (Bango on the right)
‘I Want to See Her Grow Up’: A North Carolina Mom on How Medicaid Expansion Would Change Her Life

The state House approved a bill to expand Medicaid access to 600,000 more North Carolina residents on Wednesday.

FILE - North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks in favor of protecting abortion access during a news conference at the North Carolina Department of Justice in Raleigh, N.C., Aug. 3, 2022. A North Carolina prosecutor said Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, that campaign-related charges will not be pursued further against Stein or his aides, one day after an appeals court ruled the political libel law her office was seeking to enforce is most likely unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum, File)
NC Attorney General Champions Reproductive Freedom by Refusing to Defend Abortion Pill Restrictions in Lawsuit

Instead, Stein will argue that federal regulations protecting access to abortion pills override North Carolina's state-level restrictions.

Rebecca Cerese, a policy advocate at the North Carolina Justice Center, speaks at a vigil in front of the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, July 26, 2022, to remember people lacking Medicaid coverage or insurance who have died. Cerese and other speakers urged lawmakers to pass a law so North Carolina accepts federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional adults (AP Photo/Gary D. Robertson)
Will NC Republicans Finally Expand Medicaid After a Decade of Delays? A New Bill Could Pave the Way.

Medicaid expansion has been shown to save lives, reduce postpartum hospitalizations, improve access to mental health and substance use treatment, prevent more rural hospitals from closing in the state, and create tens of thousands of jobs in the state.

The great seal of North Carolina is seen outside the state legislature building in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday, May 9, 2016. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)
15 Bills We’re Watching Right Now in the North Carolina Legislature

Among the proposed legislation are efforts to legalize medical marijuana, crack down on protesters, ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, loosen gun rules on private school grounds, and overhaul the state’s redistricting process.