Laura Santhanam

Laura Santhanam is a Washington D.C.-based journalist for PBS News who reports on health, data and polling and was a 2024-2025 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. A Peabody Award-winning journalist, she uses narrative and numbers to tell stories. She previously worked as a newspaper reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Arizona Republic and as a media analyst at Pew Research Center. A native of Tupelo, Mississippi, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history from the University of Mississippi and a master’s degree in public policy from American University. She was a Center for Health Journalism 2022 National Fellow for which she reported on South Dakotans consequential vote on whether to expand its state’s Medicaid.

Articles

A mother carrying her baby in hospital bed

I finally found the right person to tell the story of uninsured moms in South Dakota. Then it almost fell apart.

A patient who dramatically illustrated the story’s whole premise wanted to back out at the last minute. What's a reporter to do?

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Patient Kaylen Mehlhaff meets with midwife Amanda Youngers for a regular checkup at an Indian Health Service facility in Rapid

Healthcare Systems & Policy

South Dakota passed Medicaid expansion. What’s next?

A win for Medicaid expansion in South Dakota is a victory for public health, policy experts say, but now comes the work of ensuring the people who are eligible actually get enrolled.

Health Insurance and Costs

Healthcare Systems & Policy

Who South Dakota’s Medicaid expansion vote will impact the most

On Election Day, South Dakotans will have the option on their ballot to expand Medicaid coverage.

Health Insurance and Costs

The only times Veronica Olds, 30, has had health insurance across the last dozen years has been when she is pregnant. A mother o

Healthcare Systems & Policy

How South Dakota voters could help save the lives of uninsured moms

Across the state, 16,000 adults are uninsured because they can’t afford private coverage, but their incomes disqualify them from Medicaid.

Health Insurance and Costs

If a majority of the state votes in support of Amendment D on Nov. 8, South Dakota will expand Medicaid by July 1 and an additi

Healthcare Systems & Policy

Medicaid expansion is on the ballot in South Dakota. Here’s what voters think

A new state poll finds that supporters currently outweigh the opposition, but a large percentage have not made up their minds.

Health Insurance and Costs

How well does the U.S. public health care system take care of pregnant people?

A new reporting project explores how far politics goes in separating the health of a pregnant person from that of the fetus they carry.

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Reporting Topics

Laura Santhanam

Articles

I finally found the right person to tell the story of uninsured moms in South Dakota. Then it almost fell apart.

South Dakota passed Medicaid expansion. What’s next?

Who South Dakota’s Medicaid expansion vote will impact the most

How South Dakota voters could help save the lives of uninsured moms

Medicaid expansion is on the ballot in South Dakota. Here’s what voters think

How well does the U.S. public health care system take care of pregnant people?