On Disabilities

The story of the first worker in the U.S. to suffer lung damage after cutting a new kind of countertop material shows the way a workplace hazard emerged in this country.

"Street medicine" programs, like one in Atlanta, seek out people living in back alleys and under highways. The public health outreach improves patients' health and is cost-effective, hospitals find.

Five U.S. territories say if Congress doesn't quickly allocate more funding for their Medicaid programs, they will be forced to make brutal triage decisions that will likely cost American lives.

For some patients in pain, opioids are still part of the long-term solution, doctors say. But by adding meditation, hypnosis or other treatments, the opioid dose can be reduced.

Montana is one of several states that want Medicaid recipients to prove they work a steady, minimum number of hours monthly. Will federal courts allow the Montana rule change to stand?