Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirements Costing Taxpayers Millions Despite Low Enrollment
By Andy Miller Renuka Rayasam
March 20, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage program has seen anemic enrollment while chalking up millions in start-up costs — largely in technology and consulting fees. Critics say the money’s being wasted on a costly and ineffective alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
After Institutions for People With Disabilities Close, Graves Are at Risk of Being Forgotten
By Tony Leys
November 21, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Thousands of people with disabilities lived and died in state institutions. Now, decades after the facilities began closing, the cemeteries left behind are at risk of falling into disrepair.
Legislatura aprueba la propuesta de Newsom para reformar la Ley de Servicios de Salud Mental
By Molly Castle Work
September 16, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Newsom prometió que la recién rebautizada Ley de Servicios de Salud Mental construiría 10,000 nuevas camas y viviendas para personas sin hogar con necesidades de salud mental.
As State Institutions Close, Families of Longtime Residents Face Agonizing Choices
By Tony Leys
September 13, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Iowa, under federal pressure to improve care for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, is set to join 45 other states that have closed most or all of their state institutions for such residents.
Some People in This Montana Mining Town Worry About the Dust Next Door
By Katheryn Houghton
June 8, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Residents of a Butte neighborhood are concerned about the dust from a nearby open-pit mine that can coat their homes and vehicles. In a city where past mining left a legacy of soil and water pollution, is the air unsafe, too?
Missourians Clear First Hurdle For Putting Abortion Rights Up To A Vote
May 6, 2024
Morning Briefing
Abortion-rights advocates delivered 380,000 signatures, twice as many as necessary. Other news is on doulas and their role in shrinking the reproductive health care gap.
What Are Taxpayers Spending for Those ‘Free’ Covid Tests? The Government Won’t Say.
By Christine Spolar
February 11, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Inquiries lead from one federal office to the next, with no clear answers. At one Army Contracting Command, a protocol office employee says that “voicemail has been down for months.” And the email address listed for fielding media inquiries? “The army stopped using the email address about eight years ago.”
More Black Americans Are Buying Guns. Is It Driving Up Black Suicide Rates?
By Alex Smith, KCUR
March 11, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Gun buying among African Americans has soared in recent years. So have suicide rates among young Black men. Suicide prevention and gun safety efforts need to address race and cultural differences, Black gun owners say.
Vaccine-or-Test Requirements Increase Work and Costs for Governments
By Amanda Michelle Gomez Phil Galewitz
November 19, 2021
KFF Health News Original
But state and local officials embrace the requirement because it creates a safer workplace while allowing employees to continue working.
A Title Fight Pits Physician Assistants Against Doctors
By Jordan Rau
December 3, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Physician assistants are pushing to be renamed “physician associates,” complaining their title is belittling and doesn’t convey what they do. “We don’t assist,” they insist. Doctors’ groups fear there’s more than just a name in play.
Centene Showers Politicians With Millions as It Courts Contracts and Settles Overbilling Allegations
By Samantha Young Andy Miller Rebecca Grapevine
November 4, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Centene, the largest Medicaid managed-care company in the U.S., has thrown more than $26.9 million at political campaigns across the country since 2015, especially focused on states where it is wooing Medicaid contracts and settling accusations that it overbilled taxpayers. Among its tactics: Centene is skirting contribution limits by giving to candidates through its many subsidiaries.
New York’s Program For Monitoring People With Serious Mental Illness Has Broken Down Repeatedly
December 21, 2023
Morning Briefing
A New York Times investigation finds that people under Kendra’s Law orders — a program that monitors New Yorkers with serious mental illness who are also at risk of committing violence — have been accused of committing more than 380 beatings, stabbings, subway shovings, and other violent acts in the past 5 years.
California Moves on Climate Change, but Rejects Aggressive Cuts to Greenhouse Emissions
By Samantha Young
September 23, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Drought, wildfires, extreme heat: California lawmakers cast climate change as the culprit in an emerging series of public health threats, setting aside billions to help communities respond. But they stopped short of more aggressively reducing the state’s share of the greenhouse emissions warming the planet.
Humana Health Plan Overcharged Medicare by Nearly $200 Million, Federal Audit Finds
By Fred Schulte
April 20, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Medicare Advantage company may face record penalty over alleged billing errors.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Congress Is Out. The Presidential Campaign Is In.
August 3, 2023
Podcast
Congress is in recess until after Labor Day, and lawmakers won’t have much time when they return to get the government funded before the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Republican campaign for president has begun in earnest, and while repealing the Affordable Care Act is no longer the top promise, some candidates have lively ideas about what to do with federal health programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Phil Galewitz, who reported the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month,” about how a bill that should never have been sent created headaches for one patient.
With Few Takers for COVID Vaccine, DC Hospital CEO Takes ‘One for the Team’
By Phil Galewitz
December 21, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Howard University Hospital officials are eager to get their 1,900 employees vaccinated, but so far few are showing up.
California Set to Spend Billions on Curing Homelessness and Caring for ‘Whole Body’ Politic
By Angela Hart
September 8, 2021
KFF Health News Original
California is embarking on a five-year experiment to infuse its health insurance program for low-income people with billions of dollars in nonmedical services spanning housing, food delivery and addiction care. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the goal is to improve care for the program’s sickest and costliest members and save money, but will it work?
Spurred by Pandemic, Little Shell Tribe Fast-Tracks Its Health Service Debut
By Katheryn Houghton
February 19, 2021
KFF Health News Original
As the newest federally recognized tribe, the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana is starting from scratch to deliver health care to members. While covid-19 has been devastating, it has sped up the tribe’s ability to build a clinic. Yet, lacking a reservation, the tribe faces challenges reaching its scattered members.
Fear and Loathing as Colleges Face Another Season of Red Ink
By Mark Kreidler
December 7, 2020
KFF Health News Original
When campuses stay open, COVID infections spread widely, and sometimes kill. But by closing dorms and dining halls, scores of smaller schools face finances so ruinous they could be fatal for their institutions.
With Vaccine Delivery Imminent, Nursing Homes Must Make a Strong Pitch to Residents
By Judith Graham
December 17, 2020
KFF Health News Original
More than half of long-term care residents have cognitive impairment or dementia, raising questions about whether they will understand the details about the fastest and most extensive vaccination effort in U.S. history.
