Ansonia Lyons carries her son, Adrien Lyons, as she takes him for a diaper change in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. After two miscarriages, Ansonia became pregnant in 2020, and it was difficult. (AP Photo / Wong Maye-E, File)

Among wealthy nations, the U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality, which is defined as a death during pregnancy or up to a year afterward. Common causes include excessive bleeding, infection, heart disease, suicide and drug overdose.

Howard Brown Health sign. (WTTW News)

Twenty states have passed laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for youth, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Howard Brown said it saw an increase of 5,000 patients last year — 5% of that being out-of-state patients seeking gender-affirming care.

“Oh, I’m signed!” says state Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, as she realizes that her bill giving the Department of Insurance new oversight authority had been approved by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on June 27, 2023. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
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The measures establish a state-based exchange for policies sold under the Affordable Care Act and give the Illinois Department of Insurance the authority to modify or reject proposed rate increases.

Inside the Waukegan Planned Parenthood. (WTTW News)

This Saturday marks one year since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which reversed the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision. Since then, many people have flocked to Illinois in search of abortion access.

(Dana Neely / Stone RF / Getty Images)

The U.S. maternal mortality rate nearly doubled between 2018 and 2021, with COVID-19 as a “contributing factor” in more than 30% of maternal deaths, according to a new report. The report also says medical debt amounts to $88 billion nationwide.

(WTTW News)
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Illinois is one of the few states that provides Medicaid-style health care benefits to undocumented immigrants, but that coverage is proving costly and the state is scaling back. It’s causing a political rift.

(Fiordaliso/Moment RF/Getty Images)

Adults ages 19 to 64 in the U.S. should be screened for anxiety disorders, according to a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a group of independent medical experts whose recommendations help guide doctors’ decisions and influence insurance plans.

(WTTW News)

Historically, the medical mistreatment of people of color has resulted in the mistrust of a system that saves lives. With health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease on the rise within Black and Brown communities, physicians are working to restore trust.

Migrants in Chicago are pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)

As part of the city’s response, police stations have become makeshift shelters for new migrants before they transition into long-term housing. Recently, a volunteer team of medical students has begun making the rounds at those police stations to assist with refugees’ health needs. 

Margaret Piwowar talks with participant Rosa Gonzalez. (WTTW News)

People with chronic conditions can find themselves trapped in a costly, self-perpetuating emergency room cycle. A pilot program connects Chicago Fire Department paramedics with patients who need help managing chronic conditions at home.

The United States has had a "life expectancy disadvantage" since 1950, a new study suggests. (shunli zhao / Moment RF / Getty Images)

By 2019, the life expectancy gap between the U.S. and the highest-performing nation had grown to more than six years. The COVID-19 pandemic widened that gap even more, as the U.S. had more deaths from the virus than any other country and has been slower to recover.

FILE - This electron microscope image provided by the National Institutes of Health shows human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) virions, colorized blue, and anti-RSV F protein/gold antibodies, colorized yellow, shedding from the surface of human lung cells. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH via AP)

RSV fills hospitals with wheezing babies each fall and winter, and the virus struck earlier than usual and especially hard in the U.S. this past year.

(WTTW News)

One roadblock to the passage of a state budget this week has been a set of programs in which Illinois provides health care coverage to green-card holders and undocumented residents.

This illustration provided by Perrigo in May 2023, depicts proposed packaging for the company's birth control medication Opill. (Perrigo via AP)

Federal health advisers said a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication. Currently, a prescription is required in the U.S.

(WTTW News)
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Saint Anthony Hospital has been a Chicago fixture on the Southwest Side for more than a century. Residents and local leaders say it’s time to upgrade the hospital facility but that they keep getting overlooked.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks about Medicaid renewal efforts on May 1, 2023. (WTTW News)

During the pandemic, the number of low-income and disabled people who received government-backed health care grew in Illinois, and across the country, because at the height of COVID Congress made it illegal for states to kick anyone off Medicaid.