KHN

When the Blackfeet tribe shut down the roads leading to the eastern side of Glacier National Park, businesses worried for their future. But it worked, and with one of the nation’s highest covid vaccination rates, the reservation has reopened to visitors.

A growing number of Mexican and Central American migrants are trying to cross into the U.S. at the southern border. Volunteers at one free clinic in Tijuana tend to the health needs of migrants waiting for their immigration cases to come up — and simply trying to survive in packed and dangerous encampments.

Despite a hearts-and-minds campaign and millions spent in incentives, managers struggle to get staffs vaccinated against covid. Some workers have threatened to quit over the pressure to get a shot, which employers can’t afford.

In a surprisingly strong 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court turned back the latest constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act, likely heralding the end of GOP efforts to strike the law in its entirety through court action. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are looking for ways to expand health benefits. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews Andy Slavitt, who recently stepped down from the Biden administration’s covid response team, about his new book on the pandemic.

It will soon take a court order to change one’s gender on a Montana birth certificate. Montana health officials are seeking comment on proposed rules for a law that would affect dozens of people each year.

More than 80 million Americans with low incomes were receiving health coverage through the federal-state program in January. The program now covers nearly 1 in 4 people nationwide.

Justices rule that Republican state officials and individuals did not have standing when they brought a suit arguing that a change in the tax penalty for not having insurance invalidated the historic health care law.

A federal program to help with the funeral expenses for people who died of covid is a challenge for grieving family members who aren’t fluent in English or the ways of a bureaucracy.

The pandemic created disruption and family stress that may have lasting effects on young children’s social and emotional development.

Federal officials say that some of the money changing hands has corrupted doctors and endangered patients.

Criminal charges filed against two officers who injured a Colorado woman with dementia don’t address the fact that police often lack the skills to effectively deal with suspects with mental disabilities.

It won’t hurt to remain cautious, even as California reopens for business in response to mass vaccinations and diminishing cases of covid.

Agricultural workers living in employer-owned housing can have trouble getting health care. It’s symptomatic of bigger gaps in worker protections that the pandemic spotlighted, say proponents of a newly passed Colorado bill for farmworker rights.

More communities are creating teams of health care providers to respond to mental health crises instead of cops, a shift propelled by nationwide demonstrations against police brutality. But the shapes of those mobile crisis response teams vary because the movement is still in an experimental stage.

HCA charges patients an “activation fee” of up to $50,000 for trauma teams at centers located in half its 179 hospitals — and they often don’t need trauma care, an analysis of insurance claims data shows.

Health care insiders get surprise medical bills, too. One of them shares tips for writing an insurance appeal.

The federal approval of a controversial drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease has reignited the debate over drug prices and the way the Food and Drug Administration makes decisions. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden seeks to gain goodwill overseas as he announces the U.S. will provide 500 million doses of covid vaccine to international health efforts. Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. And to mark the podcast’s 200th episode, the panelists discuss what has surprised them most and least over the past four years.