Millions of kids could lose Medicaid coverage when the pandemic ’emergency’ ends : Shots

NPR October 26, 2022
Sebastián Martínez Valdivia

Kathreen Friend is a pediatric registered nurse based in Doniphan, Missouri — a small town of about 1,800 near the Arkansas border. As the lone pediatric specialist in Ripley County, she stays extremely busy. She works long hours at the nonprofit Missouri Highlands clinic, and visits nearby schools for health screenings.

“I see a large volume of kids every single day,” Friend says. “It makes for long hours and long days, but we try to get people taken care of.”

Friend’s clinic is located in a building that used to be the county’s former hospital, but the hospital closed in 2018. The safety-net clinic treats both insured and...

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