Shereese Hickson's doctor wanted her to try a drug called Ocrevus for her multiple sclerosis. Trained as a medical billing coder, Hickson was shocked by the six-figure bill and the share she owed.
If a funding extension can't be hammered out in the Montana Legislature, the state could be the first to undo an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Voters in Idaho, Utah and Nebraska approved ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid, overcoming roadblocks that had kept an estimated 300,000 people from obtaining coverage.
If the state's ballot initiative to fund Medicaid's expansion passes, it will mean a $2-per-pack increase in taxes on cigarettes and a new tax on electronic cigarettes.
Ballot initiatives in Utah, Nebraska and Idaho will determine whether to expand Medicaid, after legislators refused to do so. Montanans will vote on whether to keep the state's expansion intact.
Idaho is one of three conservative states where voters will decide in November whether to buck the GOP's resistance to the Affordable Care Act and implement its Medicaid expansion for adults.
More than two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are enrolled in privately run Medicaid managed care programs. Yet the evidence is thin these contractors improve patient care or save the government money.
Massachusetts planned to exclude expensive drugs that weren't proven to work better than existing alternatives from its Medicaid plan. Medicaid drug spending had doubled in five years.
Foster children can have extraordinary health needs. Some states are testing a coordinated approach to care to keep these kids from slipping through the cracks.
An analysis by the state shows Medicaid expansion has cut in half the number of uninsured Ohioans. Most recipients said the expansion made it easier to find work and care for their families.
Officials in Texas are responding to the findings of an investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity into drugmakers' influence over medication choices for Medicaid patients.
The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would prohibit some home health workers from having union dues deducted from their paychecks. The rule would likely undercut unions' power, all agree.
Companies that negotiate drug prices for insurance plans keep a big cut of the money. In Ohio, a battle is brewing over whether their services are worth the cost.
State Medicaid programs already get much more money from the federal government than Puerto Rico Medicaid gets — and the storm-ravaged U.S. territory's safety net for the poor is barely hanging on.
After an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and NPR into conflicts of interest in Medicaid decisions about drugs, Arizona's governor added new transparency rules.
Drug companies have infiltrated nearly every part of the process that determines how their drugs will be covered by Medicaid, an investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity finds.
It often falls to health care providers to discern whether the asylum-seekers who say they've been tortured or persecuted in their homeland bear physical and psychological evidence of that harm.
A coalition in Nebraska turned in enough signatures to put Medicaid expansion on November's ballot. Supporters say expansion could bring health insurance to around 90,000 low-income Nebraskans
Several states are considering requiring that Medicaid recipients work to maintain their health coverage. In Kentucky, one such requirement has been stalled in court.
A growing number of American children are losing out on Medicaid — and other programs — because their parents are undocumented immigrants and fear detainment and deportation.
A Las Vegas counseling and mental health care provider has been fined more than $1 million and placed on three years of probation after fraudulently billing Medicaid.
A proposed change in immigration policy from the Trump administration could make it harder for immigrants to obtain a green card if family members use Medicaid, WIC or other federal medical benefits.
The state ranks near the bottom in enrolling people for food assistance. To change that, it's taking lessons from its robust Medi-Cal health insurance program, which targets much the same population.
