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North Carolina Health News
What happens to health programs if the federal government shuts down?
For the first time since 2019, congressional gridlock is poised to at least temporarily shut down big parts of the federal government — including many health programs. If it happens, some government functions would stop completely and some in part, while others wouldn’t be immediately affected — including Medicare, Medicaid, and health plans sold under the Affordable Care Act. But a shutdown could complicate the lives of everyone who interacts with any federal health program, as well as the people who work at the agencies administering them.
High Point University closer to welcoming students to the only private dental school in North Carolina
As Tropical Storm Ophelia showered the North Carolina Piedmont with a windy drizzle Saturday, dozens of people at High Point University gathered inside the Congdon Hall auditorium for an unusual ceremony. After several years of planning, campus leaders and guests were ready to break ground for the new Workman School...
Medicaid expansion for North Carolina will go into effect on Dec. 1
After being held up for months by the General Assembly’s protracted dispute over a state budget, Medicaid expansion is set to finally take effect in North Carolina on Dec. 1. The launch date was announced Monday by Gov. Roy Cooper, who called expansion a “monumental achievement” that will eventually...
State budget provision stymies local plastic reduction efforts in North Carolina
Environmental advocates across the state were shocked last week by the insertion of a provision in House Bill 259, now part of the 2023-24 state budget, that blocks local municipalities from establishing ordinances to reduce single-use plastic use. “Plastic waste is a scourge on our society on many levels,” said...
Understanding September’s asthma toll on children and communities of color
September is an exciting time for many, as summer’s long, hot days begin to give way to cooler temperatures and fall colors. Primary school and college students return to classes, and crowds pack high school bleachers and college stadiums on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons to cheer on their favorite fall sports teams, among other fun autumn activities.
State budget heavy on health care spending
Update Sept. 22: Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday morning that he will let the budget become law without his signature, largely because it expands the Medicaid benefit to more than a half million people. “Make no mistake, overall this is a bad budget,” Cooper said. “However, we must recognize this irresponsible legislature’s decade of refusal to expand Medicaid, which has caused life and death situations for so many North Carolinians and threatened the very existence of numerous rural hospitals. I will not allow people who are crying for help to wait any longer…”
13 NC prisons working to make visitation spaces more child-friendly
When a child goes to visit an incarcerated parent, they have to navigate a complex maze. They’re shepherded past barbed wire fences and through locked doors. They watch their caregivers get patted down. They often walk down drab halls to sit in drab rooms with a parent who’s wearing a jumpsuit.
State budget deal finally comes together, creates path for Medicaid expansion
Statehouse leaders have finally announced a budget deal, which will fund the state and also allow for Medicaid expansion to go into effect in coming months. For weeks, leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives tussled over the issue of adding legalization of casinos into the $30 billion state budget. Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) was all in on the casino proposal, which would have won one of the four proposed casinos for his home in Rockingham County.
Greensboro tries new approach to curb gun violence
Arthur Durham is keenly aware of the impact that gunfire and other street violence can have on a community. As a boy growing up in Philadelphia, that was the world he lived in. His mother battled heroin addiction, and his father was absent. “To say I had it hard would...
Life in a rural ‘ambulance desert’ means sometimes help isn’t on the way
CARROLLTON, Ala. — Annie Jackson can’t know whether her sister Grena Prude might have survived had an ambulance been more readily available when she went into cardiac arrest on May 10. But Jackson is convinced her sister would have at least had a chance. Prude, 55, died at...
Study finds gap between what rural residents want for end-of-life care and what they receive
When it comes to end-of-life wishes, a new study has found that while most people have end-of-life wishes, only a little over a third of them actually get them fulfilled. That is even more true with rural residents, researchers said. Lula Reese said she didn’t have to ask her mother...
COVID is still here. Get the new booster, public health experts recommend.
We’ve lived with COVID-19 for three and a half years now, and just when it seems like we’re close to declaring checkmate, the SARS-CoV-2 virus shows its uncanny ability to survive. This coronavirus is a master at evolving, throwing variant after variant at us. “It is a skilled...
People who spent time in solitary confinement say it had lasting effects on their mental, physical health
Drew Doll spent 15 consecutive months in solitary confinement. During the first week, Doll said he “bounced off the walls.” In his cell alone for 22 to 24 hours a day, he could take about four steps lengthwise and two steps side to side before hitting the wall. He had no one to talk to and none of his personal belongings.
Tired of ‘thoughts and prayers,’ UNC students reeling from shooting on campus demand gun safety laws
It was only six days into the fall semester at UNC Chapel Hill when a gunman in a chemistry building sent the campus into lockdown mode. On Tuesday, 15 days after the incident of terror, students from that campus and others were in Raleigh to tell lawmakers they were fed up with the “thoughts and prayers” that flow after these increasingly common occurrences in their lives. They were determined to let the lawmakers know how hollow those words are to them — and what they would rather hear and see.
As Republican lawmakers fight over casinos, health programs’ futures are on the line
Senate leader Phil Berger was blunt when asked Tuesday whether Medicaid expansion would move forward without a state budget. That’s all the Rockingham County Republican leader had to say about the issue on a tense afternoon as lawmakers continued the protracted struggle to come to terms on a state spending plan for the next two years.
Medicaid expansion delay: Patient lives hang in the balance as lawmakers debate budget
Standing on the second floor of the mostly empty North Carolina legislative building last week, Anthony Brooks sifted through a stack of papers until his finger landed on a troubling piece of mail he recently received from the state. “This is my death certificate,” he said of the document, a...
A look at North Carolina’s first year with the 988 mental health crisis line
It’s been a little more than a year since the launch of the new national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline number 988, and North Carolina saw a 31 percent increase in calls for support during that time. While the national hotline isn’t exactly new, the shortened number is. The previous...
Your exorbitant medical bill, brought to you by the latest hospital merger
When Mark Finney moved to southwestern Virginia with his young family a decade ago, there were different hospital systems and a range of independent doctors to choose from. But when his knee started aching in late 2020, he discovered that Ballad Health was the only game in town: He went to his longtime primary care doctor, now employed by Ballad, who sent him to an orthopedist’s office owned by Ballad. That doctor sent him to get an X-ray at a Ballad-owned facility and then he was referred to a physical therapy center called Mountain States Rehab, which was now owned by Ballad as well.
What happens when you take someone in a mental health crisis to the E.R.?
Editor’s note: This article references self harm and suicide. Please use caution when reading. There are several mental health support resources listed at the end of this article. When a loved one is experiencing a mental health crisis, families often go to their local emergency room for help. This...
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Founded in November 2011 as a North Carolina nonprofit, NCHN is an independent news organization devoted to covering health care in the state.
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