To stay afloat, safety-net hospitals often rely on state-directed payments, which help close the gap between Medicaid’s low payment rates and the actual cost of patient care. Totaling more than $110 billion annually, these payments constitute critical funding for children’s hospitals, rural clinics, and other providers serving large numbers of Medicaid patients. On To the Point, experts from Manatt Health say federal Medicaid cuts could reduce state-directed payments by $149 billion over 10 years, and in at least 19 states, hospitals could face a reduction of 20 percent or more in these payments. These losses could force hospitals to cut services, lay off staff, or even close their doors.
How to Improve Maternal Health in Native Communities
The rise in maternal mortality over the past two decades has had a disproportionate impact on American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women, but many pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. On To the Point, experts explore the deeply rooted factors that contribute to maternal health disparities for AIAN women. Addressing this complex and urgent public health challenge will require improving research and data collection, providing safe and congruent care, and creating community-based programs, say the Yale School of Medicine’s Sarah Christie, the Commonwealth Fund’s Laurie Zephyrin, M.D., and colleagues.
Community health centers are a lifeline for millions of Americans seeking behavioral health care. Integrated care teams at health centers coordinate treatment for mental health problems and substance use disorders, helping to reduce the need for emergency room visits, enabling patients to better manage their conditions, and lowering overall Medicaid spending. Medicaid work requirements — a feature of the just-passed tax law — risk destabilizing these vital providers, say Peter Shin and Erin Prendergast. On To the Point, they note that community health centers depend on uninterrupted Medicaid coverage and predictable funding. An estimated 2.8 million to 5.6 million health center patients could lose their Medicaid coverage because of difficulties dealing with procedural red tape, the burden of reporting requirements, or technology failures.
What percentage of U.S. women use contraception at some point in their lives?
27%
47%
67%
87%
Scroll down to see if you got it right.
Commonwealth Fund Podcast Host Named to Time List
Joel Bervell, M.D., the “medical mythbuster,” was recently named to Time’s 100 Creators 2025. On TikTok and Instagram, the 30-year-old Peabody Award–winning content creator addresses the impact of racial and gender bias on health care and debunks health misinformation that can harm marginalized communities. Bervell currently hosts The Dose, the Commonwealth Fund’s podcast on the future of U.S. health care, as well as the animated YouTube series The Doctor Is In, designed to inspire kids to pursue STEM careers.
Maryland has recently launched efforts to reduce firearm violence. Initiatives include an interactive dashboard on the state’s health department website that offers a visualization of firearm injury and death trends over the past 10 years, indexed by region and demographic characteristics. In Transforming Care, we discuss provider-led efforts to reduce gun violence in Maryland and three other states.
QUIZ: Answer
The answer is D. Eighty-seven percent of women in the United States use contraception at some point in their lives.
While access to birth control is protected by federal law, coverage varies widely among private health insurance plans and state policies differ in their regulation of coverage. A recent Commonwealth Fund survey found that two in five women of reproductive age have trouble affording contraceptives, while four in five are unsure if birth control is covered by their health plan. If federal protections are rolled back, access to birth control may be further undermined. Our new explainer can help you understand where things stand with birth control policy in the U.S.
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