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Reporter’s series on Michigan nursing homes spurs legislative action
Several eye-opening stories about the plight of some Michigan nursing homes, written by Bridge Michigan reporter Robin Erb, highlighted horrendous conditions and attracted the attention of local and state leaders. Erb’s stories and sidebars on conditions in long-term care facilities prompted state leaders to pledge improvements and begin drafting legislation increasing penalties and oversight of…
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Report shows weak hospital and health plan price transparency across 10 US markets
One of the most thorough analyses of the quality of hospital and health plan price transparency data got little attention when it was published last fall. Nonetheless, the 185-page report from the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) in Oakland, Calif., is useful for health journalists nationwide because it shows the problems employers face when…
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Deep federal cuts will make health care financially toxic, driving up medical debt
Early in 2020, Ella Nelson was 2 years old when her grandmother noticed a small lump on the right side of her abdomen. Finding that lump was the start of a difficult years-long odyssey for Ella, her mother, Megan, and her father, Marcus. Three weeks earlier, Megan Nelson had just given birth to Ella’s brother,…
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Is ICE undermining patient privacy by using Medicaid data?
ICE agents and bystanders in Minneapolis after the Jan. 7, 2026, fatal shooting of Renée Macklin Good. Photo by Chad Davis (CC BY 4.0) In December, a court decision allowed federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to use states’ Medicaid data to identify where people — including immigrants — live as part of enforcement…
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‘Starved in jail’ is a story in every U.S. county
Sarah Stillman, a Yale University journalism professor and staff writer at The New Yorker, wrote one of the best health care stories of 2025. In a year filled with heart-wrenching articles, her piece, “Starved in Jail,” was one of the saddest — in part because she asked a chilling question that remains unanswered: Why are…
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Maine becomes 22nd state with a red flag law
Maine voters passed the state’s first red flag law in November, creating a legal pathway to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing firearms. Red flag laws, also called gun violence restraining orders or extreme risk protection orders, allow loved ones or law enforcement to petition a court for an order to temporarily remove firearms…
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Stories to cover as Americans seek affordable health insurance
Millions of Americans will have trouble finding affordable health insurance this year. As a result, many of them will find it difficult or impossible to pay for health care for themselves and family members. Health care journalists have been writing this story for years and will continue to cover this story well into the future.…
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