Author

Anna Claire Vollers

Anna Claire Vollers

Anna Claire Vollers covers health care for Stateline. She has nearly 20 years’ experience reporting across the American South, specializing in stories about women, children and families.

As child poverty doubles, states launch or expand their own tax credits

By: - September 22, 2023

The federal pandemic-era child tax credit expansion lifted millions of children out of poverty in the second half of 2021. But Congress allowed it to expire at the end of that year, and new U.S. census data shows the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022, erasing the record gains that were made. “It […]

Woman speaks in front of statues.

Hospitals block much-needed birth centers in the South

By: - August 31, 2023

When Katie Chubb announced in 2021 she was planning to open a freestanding birth center in Augusta, Georgia, it seemed like everybody in town was excited about it. She met with local physicians and nurses who said they would welcome her Augusta Birth Center as a provider of midwifery services for low-risk pregnancies. Hundreds of […]