Healthcare
Capitol Beat
State health officials pause disease-control strategy proposal
The move, allowing consideration of some 10,000 public comments, comes as the commonwealth battles a historic measles outbreak that now surpasses 900 cases.
Trailblazers
The City & State Trailblazers in Healthcare 2026
Meet the physicians, advocates and visionaries keeping Pennsylvania, and its mighty healthcare sector, healthy.
Healthcare
New ACA rates pinching Pennie’s users
On the heels of historic 2026 rate increases for state health insurance marketplace plans, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department announced sharply higher rates for 2027 coverage
health policy
As PA measles cases skyrocket, Shapiro-RFK Jr. beef expands
As Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak hit disturbing new milestones this week – including the country’s largest reported measles death total since the 1990s – tensions flared again between Gov. Josh Shapiro and federal health czar Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over death counts and declining American vaccine confidence.
News & Politics
Shapiro administration announces wage theft protection for home health care workers
Pennsylvania Labor Secretary Nancy Walker announced the plan at SEIU Local 1201 in Philadelphia on Wednesday
health policy
As PA measles outbreak intensifies, so does the political polarization around it
Following the very public spat between Gov. Josh Shapiro and federal health czar RFK Jr., conservatives and public-health experts are fighting over the veracity of the state’s reported measles deaths
Healthcare
‘Completely preventable’: Pennsylvania now has two fatal measles cases – the first in the U.S. this year
There are nearly 400 reported measles cases in 28 counties across the commonwealth
Healthcare
Pennie drops: PA’s insurance marketplace suffers massive decline in enrollment
Following the cancellation of federal subsidies, more than a third of enrollees in the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace have canceled their plans since last November, with downstream effects on hospitals and economies statewide
Healthcare
New legislation, tech look to counter rising healthcare workplace violence
A raft of new measures, from policy to remote alert systems, aims to reverse the rising tide of violence against frontline health workers.
Politics
Four years later, the Dobbs decision metastasizes into four new battles
The forces behind the stripping of reproductive rights for millions of Americans are now focused on taking even more healthcare options away from even more people.
Politics
The next state budget must do better by older Pennsylvanians
State Sen. Maria Collett makes the case for changing how long-term care is funded in Pennsylvania.
News & Politics
New poll shows growing number of Pennsylvanians think vaccines cause autism
A new health poll from Muhlenberg College also examined healthcare affordability and trust in AI chatbots for medical advice.
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Healthcare
Prenatal Attraction: The race to bring OB-GYNs to rural PA before maternity care deserts expand farther
Legislators and health officials are mulling a range of potential short- and long-term solutions – including more federal funding, bolstering the health workforce pipeline, and immigration reforms that would expand recruitment of foreign physicians.
Healthcare
The state’s ‘maternity deserts’ are reaching a crisis point as rural hospitals continue to close childbirth services
Health officials blame the closures on a national OB-GYN shortage, along with rural population decline, high liability costs, a drop in immigration and the particular challenges of recruiting rural obstetricians
Campaigns & Elections
The doctor is in the running: Ala Stanford’s prescription to win PA-3
Stanford was endorsed by Dwight Evans, the congressman retiring at the end of his term
Capitol Beat
A Q&A with Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa
The Democratic leader in the Senate discusses lessons learned from last year and 2026 priorities
Healthcare
Proposed reproductive rights legislation would tackle decades-old state mandates
Lawmakers and advocates are debating which of the commonwealth’s web of abortion requirements are hindrances – or safeguards.
Analysis
City & State's 5 for 2025: Winging it: How government agencies are fighting bird flu
As the year comes to an end, we look back at some staff and reader favorites from our reporting over the past 12 months.
News & Politics
‘We’re very concerned’: Q&A with Pennie Executive Director Devon Trolley
On the eve of open enrollment, the state’s health insurance marketplace chief told City & State how her team is preparing for the termination of federal subsidies – and what’s at stake for consumers and the state economy.
Interviews & Profiles
Ask The Experts: Philadelphia’s imperiled research ecosystem
Amid federal defunding of scientific research and radical shifts in vaccine and health policy, City & State surveyed Philadelphia’s top vaccine experts to discuss what’s at stake.
