Sick by Design

In Episode 1, we explored what happened after Idaho cut Medicaid-funded Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) services for people living with severe mental illness. Providers warned that patients would become destabilized. Some warned that people could die. According to subsequent reporting, several patients did. But the deeper question is: how did American mental healthcare become fragile enough th...

In Idaho, cuts to a Medicaid-funded mental health crisis program left some of the state’s most vulnerable patients without intensive community-based support. In this first episode of Sick by Design , we examine the human stories behind those cuts — and how healthcare policy decisions translate into real-world consequences for patients, families, providers, and communities. Through reporting, polic...