Texas health

The study looks at abortions received by Texans both in state and out-of-state in the months after Senate Bill 8, a roughly six-week abortion ban, became law in 2021.

Attorneys for Texas recognized their bid to block payments was an extraordinary request.

The dementia fund's approval comes at a critical moment for Texas, which ranks second in the nation in Alzheimer's deaths and third in the disease's prevalence. The need for intervention is especially high in the Rio Grande Valley — a four-county region along the Texas-Mexico border that's become the epicenter of a nationwide Alzheimer's spike.

About 1 million Texans with ACA health plans are over the age of 45, and many of them will pay monthly premiums that are more than $1,000.

Texas' application for the Rural Health Transformation program requests $200 million every year of the five-year program. The state is proposing the "Rural Texas Strong" project, which includes a range of proposals to improve health care access and quality in rural areas — such as workforce development and utilizing AI.

A nonprofit advocacy and research organization launched a new research collaborative focused on addressing the high rate of preterm births. UT Southwestern in Dallas and UT Medical Branch in Galveston are part of the new Texas research collaborative. The Texas Collaborative marks the organization's sixth Prematurity Research Center.

Enrollment in Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans begins Nov. 1. But questions about whether Congress will extend tax credits that bring down the cost of plans for many Americans linger.

As Texas develops its application for federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding, rural hospital leaders say stabilizing their facilities should be a top priority. "Without it, all the planning in the world will not matter because there will be no hospital left to transform," one said.

Since the 1960s, Texas has screened newborns for a variety of rare diseases — like sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis. And that list of conditions continues to grow longer. But, even with a diagnosis, families still face obstacles when it comes to receiving care.

The attorney general's office is challenging the validity of a district judge's order that limits how much information PFLAG, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, has to hand over about Texas families seeking gender-affirming care for children.