Why Medicaid Expansion Ballots May Hit a Dead End After a Fleeting Victory in South Dakota

Republican-led legislatures have repeatedly thwarted Medicaid expansion in a dozen conservative states, despite high numbers of uninsured residents. In recent years, supporters of expansion have found success with another strategy: letting voters decide. Since 2017, Medicaid expansion has passed in seven states where the issue was put on the ballot, adopting the Affordable Care Act … Read more

More States to Consider Extending Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Beyond Two Months

Lawmakers in several conservative-led states — including Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi — are expected to consider proposals to provide a year of continuous health coverage to new mothers enrolled in Medicaid. Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide are guaranteed continuous postpartum coverage during the ongoing covid-19 public health emergency. But momentum has been building for states to … Read more

Many Refugees Dealing with Trauma Face Obstacles to Mental Health Care

As a young boy living in what was then Zaire, Bertine Bahige remembers watching refugees flee from the Rwandan genocide in 1994 by crossing a river that forms the two Central African nations’ border. “Little did I know that would be me a few years later,” said Bahige. Bahige’s harrowing refugee journey began when he … Read more

States Extend Medicaid for New Mothers — Even as They Reject Broader Expansion

Until last year, Georgia’s Medicaid coverage for new moms with low incomes lasted 60 days. That meant the Medicaid benefits of many women expired before they could be referred to other medical providers for help with serious health problems, said Dr. Keila Brown, an OB-GYN in Atlanta. “If they needed other postpartum issues followed up, … Read more