Federal Cuts Ripple Through a Bioscience Hub in Rural Montana

HAMILTON, Mont. — Scientists are often careful to take off their work badges when they leave the campus of one of the nation’s top research facilities, here in southwestern Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. It’s a reflection of the long-standing tension caused by Rocky Mountain Laboratories’ improbable location in this conservative, blue-collar town of 5,000 that was…

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A Ministroke Can Have Major Consequences

Kristin Kramer woke up early on a Tuesday morning 10 years ago because one of her dogs needed to go out. Then, a couple of odd things happened. When she tried to call her other dog, “I couldn’t speak,” she said. As she walked downstairs to let them into the yard, “I noticed that my…

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Impact of mental health wait times on mortality

Using data on patients with a Veterans Affairs (VA) emergency department visit for a mental health condition, Costantini et al. (2025) finds that: …longer waiting times make it more likely that patients miss their follow-up mental health visit, consequently increasing the probability that they permanently disengage from care. A 1 standard deviation increase in wait…

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How Bright A Light Do We Shine This Memorial Day?

By MIKE MAGEE  According to Veterans Administration historians, the origin of Memorial Day dates back to 1864 when three women from Boalsburg, Pennsylvania joined in grief to decorate the graves of family members who had died in the Civil War. A year later, other townspeople joined in and one year later, in 1866, women in…

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Trump’s DOJ Accuses Medicare Advantage Insurers of Paying ‘Kickbacks’ to Brokers

A blockbuster lawsuit from the federal Department of Justice alleges that insurers Aetna, Elevance Health (formerly Anthem), and Humana paid “hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks” to large insurance brokerages eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote. The payments, made from 2016 to at least 2021, were incentives to steer patients into the insurer’s Medicare Advantage plans,…

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KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Bill With Billions in Health Program Cuts Passes House

The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A…

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