Mental Health
Director of Arizona Medicaid Agency Resigns Following Fraud Scheme Response
Under Carmen Heredia’s leadership, the agency withheld payment to more than 300 businesses as it investigated fraud allegations. The state’s swift response left patients homeless, ProPublica and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting found.
Utah Farmers Signed Up for Federally Funded Therapy. Then the Money Stopped.
Farmers are dying by suicide at the third-highest rate by vocation in Utah. But after a federal program offering mental health support ran out of money, the state did not continue it.
Local Reporting Network
New Utah Law Seeks to Crack Down on Life Coaches Offering Therapy Without a License
Some therapists who lose their licenses transition to the unregulated life coaching industry, an investigation by The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica found. A new law makes it clear that only licensed therapists can provide mental health treatment.
Local Reporting Network
Dozens of People Died in Arizona Sober Living Homes as State Officials Fumbled Medicaid Fraud Response
Arizona officials acknowledged that a fraud scheme targeting Indigenous people with addictions cost taxpayers $2.5 billion. But they haven’t accounted publicly for the number of deaths tied to the scheme.
Impact of Our Reporting
He Died Without Getting Mental Health Care He Sought. A New Lawsuit Says His Insurer’s Ghost Network Is to Blame.
The mother of Ravi Coutinho, the subject of a recent ProPublica investigation, is suing Centene for publishing “misleading” information that gave her son a false impression about the kinds of mental health care that were actually available.
We Found Widespread Abuse of Disabled Patients at an Illinois Facility. The DOJ Is Investigating.
A federal probe into Illinois’ treatment of disabled people will examine abuse and neglect allegations at state-run residential institutions — including Choate, the subject of a yearlong Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica investigation.
Local Reporting Network
Insurers Failed to Comply With Mental Health Coverage Law, Department of Labor Report Finds
The probe found widespread noncompliance and violations of federal law in how health plans and insurers cover mental health care, echoing the findings of a recent ProPublica investigation.
Series
Series: America’s Mental Barrier: How Insurers Interfere With Mental Health Care
Series: Veterans Without Assistance: Investigating Mental Health Care in the VA System
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.
Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
Jesse Coburn
I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.
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