It’s Hard To Predict Who Will Be Suicidal. It’s Easier To Ensure People Can’t Shoot Themselves.
Some mental health experts favor suicide prevention steps that are applied broadly, with protections that aren’t tied to an individual’s specific risk.
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Today’s Haiku
MEASLES? WHAT MEASLES?
How to cure measles:
Trump says change how we count it,
then we count zero.
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Where Florida’s Gun Violence Exacts Its Biggest Toll on Black and Latino Children
An analysis of hospital claims data in Florida found that firearm injuries of children disproportionately hit families in a handful of ZIP codes, almost all of them in Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, or Tampa Bay.
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Leadership Vacuum: Agencies in New York and Beyond Pass the Buck on Opioid Cash Oversight
The opioid settlements are a multibillion-dollar windfall with only loose spending suggestions rather than strict requirements. Some people directly affected by the crisis want stronger guardrails. But New York state’s experience highlights the challenge in finding a fiscal watchdog.
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Special Reports
Denied
Designed by health insurance companies to prevent doctors from deploying expensive, ineffectual procedures, prior authorization — sometimes called preauthorization or pre-certification — has become a confusing maze that denies or delays care, burdens physicians with paperwork, and perpetuates racial disparities. Proposed federal rules may not be enough to solve the problems.
Data Grab
Your personal health information is easier to share than ever. That can help save lives when seconds count, but it also means more people can peek at your detail-rich medical records. KFF Health News investigates how the Trump administration, with the help of little-known private entities, has sought unprecedented access to Americans’ health data — an effort that is reshaping health information privacy and profitability.
Priced Out
Skyrocketing healthcare costs and insurance premiums combined with congressional inaction have forced a perilous decision upon many people: Pay higher prices for health insurance or go uncovered. KFF Health News is telling their stories.
Common Ground
Americans are split over many issues — immigration, guns, President Trump. But helping people with cancer and other serious illnesses retains broad bipartisan support, polls show.
Bill of the Month
This crowdsourced investigation by KFF Health News dissects and explains your medical bills every month in order to shed light on U.S. health care prices and to help patients learn how to be more active in managing costs.
Payback: Tracking the Opioid Settlement Cash
Opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers are paying tens of billions of dollars in restitution to settle lawsuits about their role in the overdose epidemic, with little oversight on how the money is spent. We’re tracking how state and local governments use — or misuse — the cash.
Rural Health Payout
Tracking the federal Rural Health Transformation Program granting $50 billion to states to expand access to health care.
Eleven Minutes
Someone in America dies by suicide every 11 minutes. It’s a tragic and entrenched problem. A new approach to prevention shifts the focus from stopping harm in moments of crisis to upstream policies that give people reasons to live.
Diagnosis: Debt
More than 100 million people in America are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay. Medical debt — rather than fighting disease — is now a defining feature of the nation’s healthcare system.
Violence Repeatedly Erupts at Dementia Care Facilities Despite Warnings, Inspections Show
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities can be fertile ground for violence between residents with dementia, including fatal assaults. A KFF Health News examination of health reports and court records shows how warning signs are missed and safeguards fall short.
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