By Jaymie Baxley Medicaid expansion has already provided more than 450,000 low-income North Carolinians with health insurance. Could it also help them find better-paying jobs? State lawmakers believed that was the case when they approved legislation making North Carolina the 40th state to expand access to Medicaid in March 2023. The law, which officially took […]
Posted inState Health Policy
Doctors rail against proposed ban against public masking
By Anne Blythe Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University with a knack for making medicine and science easily understood, is just as straightforward when offering his thoughts on a legislative proposal to ban masking in public. “Politicizing what is fundamentally a health issue for a cheap shot at the Israel-Gaza debate is […]
Posted inChildren's Health
‘Care can’t wait’: Child care advocates rally for funding, support
By Jennifer Fernandez RALEIGH — Dozens of child care facilities across North Carolina closed Thursday. Not because they didn’t have enough teachers — which many don’t. Not because parents could no longer afford to send their children there — which a growing number can’t. Not because federal pandemic aid had ended — which it soon […]
Posted inPrison Health
Many NC jails violate legal requirements by skipping meds for opioid use disorder
By Rachel Crumpler For almost six years, R struggled with addiction. He said he tried to quit using opioids and benzodiazepines more than 50 times — mostly “cold turkey” — but it never worked. In 2020, he got arrested. When he got out of jail on bond a few days later, R said he knew […]
Posted inEnvironmental Health
From dumped on to praised: New documentary reveals how Warren County gave birth to a movement
By Will Atwater Since 1982, when the state of North Carolina placed a hazardous waste landfill near the Warren County town of Afton, sparking six weeks of protest and thrusting the community into the national spotlight, local activists have fought to keep the past alive and to tell the story on their terms. Now, with […]
Posted inChildren's Health
North Carolina has lost almost 5 percent of its licensed child care programs since the pandemic began
By Katie Dukes EducationNC More licensed child care programs in North Carolina are closing their doors as the state approaches the expiration of pandemic-era stabilization funding. According to data provided by the NC Child Care Resource and Referral Council in partnership with the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education, the state has experienced a net […]