When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, its authors cited three overarching goals: to improve access to health care, to slow rising medical costs and to improve health outcomes. One of the main vehicles for achieving all three missions wa…
A Republican and a Democrat walk into a room and … switch votes?
DENVER — Two state senators, a Republican and a Democrat, sit down on a dais in a dimly lit conference room at the Colorado Convention Center here and start talking. The two men are friends — they tease each other, call each other “dude” — and they’re …
Monkeypox straining already overstretched public health system
Deep into their third year of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, local and state public health workers are battered, depleted and, in many places, demoralized. And now, they face a rapidly spreading new virus: monkeypox. The response requires delicate pol…
More states back offshore wind, citing economic potential
Many states are looking to offshore wind as a key source of clean energy that’s essential in their fight against climate change. Other states are just looking to cash in. “States and regions that invest in offshore wind are going to benefit greatly eco…
Cyber insurance price hike hits local governments hard
Horry County, South Carolina, officials were in for a shock earlier this year, when they discovered their cyber insurance premium would be spiking from $70,000 last year to about $210,000. And if they couldn’t satisfy the insurance company’s requiremen…
As prices rise, the push to end diaper taxes grows
To help inflation-plagued and struggling families ease the burden of buying necessities, several states are scrapping the sales tax on infant and adult diapers. Colorado and Iowa have both agreed since May to get rid of the state tax on all diapers, be…
Westerners struggle to manage booming wild horse populations
Wild horses hold a special place in the mythos of the American West, with images of free-roaming herds of mustangs grazing on vast public rangelands. But for some communities in New Mexico, the reality tragically differs. Dehydrated and emaciated horse…
Energy-producing states lag in latest economic numbers
Amid worries about a possible recession, energy-producing states had the biggest drops in GDP during the first quarter of this year, despite skyrocketing oil and gas prices, new government figures show. The main reason: Energy companies are still strug…
Without Obergefell, most states would have same-sex marriage bans
The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, but in most states, laws or constitutional amendments would revive the prohibition if the high court decides, as it did with abortion, that such unions are not a constitutionally protected rig…
As drugmakers cut off discounts, providers fret for low-income patients
Hospitals and community and rural health clinics that serve low-income patients say drug manufacturers have threatened their financial stability by dramatically cutting back their participation in a federal drug discount program that saves those health…