内容摘要：Mexico’s government has been working furiously to talk U.S. President Donald Trump down from tariff threats and meet demands by his administration to crack down on organized crime. At the same time, Trump has been

Mexico’s government has been working furiously to talk U.S. President Donald Trump down from tariff threats and meet demands by his administration to crack down on organized crime. At the same time, Trump has been

Leaders in Brownsville tried to find a buyer for the hospital. The county eventually purchased it. Braden Health, a privately held company, then took over the hospital with two conditions from the county supervisors: It must be a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency room and staff had to be hired as quickly as possible. Local officials say the hospital is breaking even.Tennessee is one of 10 states — many of them in the South — that haven’t expanded Medicaid. Michael Meit, the director of East Tennessee State University’s Center for Rural Health Research, believes doing so would be an obvious solution to the problem of growing rural health disparities. More people would be covered by insurance, Meit said, and hospitals could make more money.

“They’re providing a lot of uncompensated care,” he said of rural health systems in those states.Miller acknowledged that Medicaid expansion can help, but argued that pinning hopes on that alone has “let the private insurance plans off the hook.”“In some cases, the small hospitals are losing more money on private insurance than they are on Medicaid, which is really kind of remarkable,” he said, “but that’s how little they get paid ... by the private insurance plans.”

Low Medicaid reimbursements play a role in, along with worker shortages and declining birth rates. More than half of rural hospitals have stopped offering labor and delivery services, another recent analysis from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform showed. That can lead to longer travel times and a

when she was pregnant with her second child. There is no labor and delivery unit at the hospital in Rocky Mount, Virginia, and a hospital about 40 minutes away closed in 2022. Ratliff, who is Black, instead went to Salem — more than an hour away — for every prenatal visit. She ran through all of her paid time off, and had no paid maternity leave.

She did, however, have a doula. The doula is Black and her services were covered by Medicaid — a benefit Virginia started offering in 2022.Midwife Stephanie Wood examines Courtney Knight during a pregnancy checkup. Midwives at Commonsense Childbirth are striving to provide good, accessible care. (AP Photo/Laura Ungar)

U.S. rates remain high despite proven ways to prevent maternal deaths and injuries, experts say — things like ensuring quality medical care at delivery; getting to know patients; addressing issues like addiction or poor nutrition; and providing care and support after the baby is born.One of the most important things is making sure everyone can get regular prenatal checkups, which requires having enough health care providers.

Consider Norway, which has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world: zero. Through its universal health care system, people get free prenatal appointments at health centers near their homes. And like Sweden, Germany, France and the U.K., it has a robust supply of midwives.For every 1,000 live births, Norway has 13 OB-GYNs and 54 midwives, the