The Missouri pilot program taps a federal waiver to allow rural hospitals to use funding for things like home repairs, utility costs or food assistance in hopes of improving rural Missourians’ health and saving hospitals money.
Meg Cunningham
Meg Cunningham is The Beacon’s rural health reporter. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism, where she covered state government and health. She spent roughly three years covering national politics, including the 2018 and 2020 elections, at ABC News in Washington. She’s spent over five years covering politics and policy, with the last three of those years focused on Missouri state government, developing expertise on state policy and agencies, democracy and representation, and health outcomes in Missouri. She grew up in the Kansas City suburbs.
Posted inHealth
‘Time is everything’: Federal grant will support blood transfusions at the scene of crashes
Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine get millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Transportation to study the impacts of performing blood transfusions at crash sites where there are severe injuries.
Posted inHealth
Missouri and Kansas families pay nearly 10% of their income on employer-provided health insurance
A new report found that nearly 10% of median household income in Missouri and Kansas goes toward deductibles and premiums. At that level, economists say those households are underinsured.
Posted inState Government
After years of patching holes, new federal requirements are forcing Missouri to upgrade its social services systems
As the state races to meet new requirements laid out in the Trump administration’s cuts to social services, lawmakers are being asked to fund new staff and technology upgrades to meet the demands.
Posted inHealth
After enhanced subsidies disappear, Affordable Care Act enrollment drops in Missouri and Kansas
The latest data show enrollment fell about 12% in Missouri and 3.5% in Kansas for 2026. But experts say that doesn’t tell the full story.
Posted inHealth
Changes are coming to health care in Missouri. These are the bills Missouri lawmakers are pushing in 2026
Missouri lawmakers have their sights set on health care reform in 2026, including insurance coverage of certain prescriptions, how health professionals can administer and prescribe medicine, patient privacy and maternal health.
Posted inRural
Another Missouri Planned Parenthood clinic closes its doors, citing funding challenges and a shift to telehealth
The Rolla clinic is keeping its staff and shifting most of its care to telehealth appointments. Patients who need in-person care are now being referred to other providers in the area or Planned Parenthood clinics in Springfield and St. Louis.
Posted inRural
More services at central Missouri hospital fall victim to economic pressures
Fitzgibbon Hospital cites staffing costs, inflation and reimbursement gaps from the federal government as reasons for the closures.
Posted inHealth
As Missouri stares down Medicaid cuts, it seeks federal rural health funding
The Trump administration’s budget bill included about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid. As part of an effort to offset those costs, Congress created the Rural Health Transformation Fund, a $50 billion bucket of money that goes to states.
Posted inRural
As the number of homeless people rises in Missouri, cities confront cross-border “drop-offs”
Joplin officials recently passed an ordinance banning the practice after noticing out-of-state vehicles dropping off homeless people. Columbia, meanwhile, has adopted a voluntary ride home program.