-
1 week ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Rose Hoban |Grace Vitaglione
The North Carolina Senate’s proposed budget for the next two fiscal years is packed with policy around new health care initiatives, including repealing North Carolina’s hospital capacity regulation laws, trimming vacant state job openings and increasing rates for child care subsidies. The spending plan — just over 1,000 pages — calls for allocating about $32.6 billion in the coming fiscal year and $33.3 billion in the next.
-
1 week ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione
Julie Crockett’s 8-year-old granddaughter, Sophia McConkey, relies on Medicaid every day. She has a rare genetic disorder called TBCK syndrome that causes low muscle tone, seizures and fragile bones. McConkey requires 24-hour nursing care, which allowed her to qualify for a Medicaid waiver called Community Alternatives Program for Children, which pays for 16 hours of nursing a day, Crockett said. Her family provides the other eight hours.
-
2 weeks ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione
Gaile Osborne is a foster parent to six children. She would’ve had seven if her first foster child had been allowed to stay with her, she said. Instead, her county Department of Social Services decided to put the 4-year-old back with her biological mother in what Osborne thought was a premature decision.
-
2 weeks ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Rose Hoban |Rachel Crumpler |Taylor Knopf |Grace Vitaglione
When federal health officials announced late last month what top officials called a “dramatic restructuring” of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the department’s secretary, claimed: “Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants.
-
2 weeks ago | 
journalpatriot.com | Grace Vitaglione
Lindsi Franklin’s son, Isaac, was 9 years old in June 2024 when doctors found an abscess in his stomach and a section of diseased bowel. He was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease — Isaac’s immune system had decided that his own intestines were an enemy. Franklin’s insurance company required prior approval before covering the medications Isaac needed — a process that took months, Franklin said. She spent hours on the phone between the company, pharmacy and the physician.
-
2 weeks ago | 
wunc.org | Grace Vitaglione
Lindsi Franklin’s son, Isaac, was 9 years old in June 2024 when doctors found an abscess in his stomach and a section of diseased bowel. He was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease — Isaac’s immune system had decided that his own intestines were an enemy. Franklin’s insurance company required prior approval before covering the medications Isaac needed — a process that took months, Franklin said. She spent hours on the phone between the company, pharmacy and the physician.
-
3 weeks ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione
Lindsi Franklin’s son, Isaac, was 9 years old in June 2024 when doctors found an abscess in his stomach and a section of diseased bowel. He was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease — Isaac’s immune system had decided that his own intestines were an enemy. Franklin’s insurance company required prior approval before covering the medications Isaac needed — a process that took months, Franklin said. She spent hours on the phone between the company, pharmacy and the physician.
-
4 weeks ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione |Rachel Crumpler
Some weeks at the North Carolina General Assembly are busier than others. This week was one of those, in part because of the March 25 Senate deadline for filing bills. Senators filed 283 bills just on that day, bringing the Senate’s tally for this session to 760 legislative proposals. Each chamber has its own deadlines for filing policy bills, which come pretty early in the legislative session. That means lawmakers need to get busy drafting and filing policy bills in February and March.
-
1 month ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Grace Vitaglione
This article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from The Gerontological Society of America, The Journalists Network on Generations and The Silver Century Foundation. Kristin Goforth and Lauren Cox, twin sisters aged 49, moved their father into a Piedmont Triad-area assisted living facility on March 13, 2021. Rick Goforth, then 75, was in good health; he was an avid walker who enjoyed being outside.
-
1 month ago | 
wunc.org | Grace Vitaglione
NC House and Senate bills would raise age for tobacco sales to 21, create permitting system for retailersby Grace Vitaglione, North Carolina Health NewsMarch 20, 2025Rob Crane watched his father struggle with lung cancer for months before he died in his mid-60s. It was “really horrendous,” Crane said. As a doctor specializing in family medicine, Crane was inspired by that experience to start raising awareness about the effects of tobacco addiction.
