Claire Donnelly

Charlotte-area hospitals are preparing for possible cases of a newly detected coronavirus after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first confirmed case in the U.S. earlier this week. 

North Carolina is still without a full state budget after state senators did not hold an expected vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto Tuesday. That means planned changes to how Medicaid pays healthcare providers are up in the air. 

Medicaid is the health insurance program for low-income adults, children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with disabilities.

For the last four years, Queen City Needle Exchange has handed out free sterile syringes and the opioid overdose reversal drug Naloxone. The group sets up at different clinics in the Charlotte area throughout the week and also operates a mobile unit.

After a year in which there were 108 homicides in Charlotte -- the most since 1993 -- Charlotte's City Council is looking at treating violent crime as a public health issue. WFAE’s health reporter Claire Donnelly talks with All Things Considered host Gwendolyn Glenn about what, exactly, that might mean.

Gwendolyn Glenn: Claire, what does it mean to take a public health approach to something like crime or violence?

A Charlotte-based mobile free pharmacy aims to make over-the-counter medicines more accessible across the state.

Charlotte’s two largest hospital systems are battling over who can add more patient beds. Atrium and Novant argued their cases Monday in a state health department hearing. 

Sunday, December 15, is the deadline for open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Anyone who doesn’t have health insurance for 2020 through an employer, Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or another source is eligible to buy or renew a plan on the online marketplace. 

For nearly 10 years, residents of Huntersville have been puzzled. 

At least 13 people connected to the town--population 57,000--have been diagnosed with a rare eye cancer that affects about six out of every 1,000,000 people. Another three have been diagnosed in nearby Cornelius.