Angela Hart

Tents in downtown Portland on March 14, 2022. | SHUTTERSTOCK

Housing, nutrition in peril as Trump pulls back Medicaid social services

Social problems such as homelessness and food insecurity can cause — or worsen — physical and behavioral health conditions, leading to sky-high health care spending or worse

May 19

Tents in downtown Portland on March 14, 2022. | SHUTTERSTOCK

Trump turns homelessness response away from housing, toward forced treatment

The Trump administration is moving to end the “Housing First” approach despite warnings from providers and homelessness experts that the shift won’t work. But with homelessness rising, President Donald Trump could find allies in blue cities and states as the public clamors for streets to be cleaned up.

Mar 27

SHUTTERSTOCK

A California medical group treats only homeless patients — and makes money doing it

Street medicine nonprofit Healthcare in Action has tapped into streams of public money. Those include Medicare Advantage plans for seniors, the fastest-growing segment of the population facing homelessness

Jul 23, 2024

Quinn Coburn is a longtime meth user. The Grass Valley, California, man is now getting sober in a new state program that pays amphetamine users to stay clean. “It saved me,” Coburn says on a bright afternoon in April. | ANGELA HART/KFF HEALTH NEWS

California pays meth users to get sober

In the coming fiscal year, the state is expected to allocate $61 million to the experiment, and so far about 2,700 patients have enrolled

May 27, 2024

Tents in downtown Portland on March 14, 2022. | SHUTTERSTOCK

Is housing health care? State Medicaid programs increasingly say ‘yes’

Leader say they have to do something to address a crisis that is out of control, but experts like Margot Kushel say the spending often falls short of providing needed long-term housing and stability

Feb 6, 2024