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Anna Gorman was a senior correspondent for KFF Health News until April 2019.
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Rather than go cold turkey, inmates increasingly have the option to take medication to help beat addiction to opioids and other substances. But some warn these substitute drugs serve as another crutch — and a costly one at that.
A study published Thursday shows that doctors, dentists and other medical providers cut overall opioid dosages by nearly 10 percent after receiving notification of a death from a medical examiner and information on safe prescribing.
The state battles at least 17 large blazes, with no clear end in sight. Climate change is among the factors that fuel the fires, scientists say.
As new federal policies make it harder to gain asylum in the U.S., foreign applicants try to improve their chances by having doctors evaluate their conditions — perhaps bolstering their stories of torture and violent persecution back home.
It’s getting increasingly difficult for patients to afford Truvada, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, because of the drug’s high price and insurance company efforts to restrict the use of coupons that shield patients from it.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has made a name for himself opposing Trump administration policies on health care and other matters, is running against opponents who say they wouldn’t make such resistance their primary focus.
Exclusively breastfeeding babies for at least six months is widely viewed as a significant health benefit. White moms are more likely to do so than blacks, Asians or Latinas.
A judge orders the county to fix problem that harmed low-income seniors and people with disabilities, including those with serious health conditions.
A combination of factors has led to an “astronomical” increase in mentally ill inmates, followed by increased efforts to identify those who need prescriptions. Some say the meds are underprescribed; others, that they are given inappropriately, without the benefit of comprehensive treatment.
The scathing report cites a significant increase in cases of poor care — especially ones with the potential to cause serious injuries or death. A state lawmaker called the findings “very, very disturbing.”
The Golden State ranks near the bottom in its enrollment of eligible people in the food assistance program known as SNAP. Now state officials want to tap its robust Medicaid rolls to boost SNAP signups.
Barbara Bush’s case highlights that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — a disease linked to long-term smoking and traditionally considered a men’s disease — is now more prevalent among women.
A lawsuit claims that a private company hired by the state public health department to manage enrollment in an AIDS drug assistance program for low-income patients inadvertently allowed unauthorized access to their medical status.
Yamanda Edwards is the only psychiatrist at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, caring for residents in South Los Angeles, a community with a shortage of mental health care.
Medicaid family planning programs reduce unplanned births, but some are caught in disputes over federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
The pill, known as PrEP, can reduce the risk of contracting the virus that causes AIDS by 90 percent. Its use has expanded sharply in recent years — but primarily among a white demographic.
The research, focused on Los Angeles County, casts a positive light on a 2004 initiative that expanded mental health services statewide. A recent state audit, however, suggested hundreds of millions of dollars from the initiative were piling up, left unspent by counties.
Begun as a health care safety net for children and low-income families, Medicaid increasingly underwrites a range of services in America’s public schools.
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require student health centers at all of the state’s four-year public universities to carry the abortion pill. Students at campuses across the state sounded off on the proposal.
The effort, overseen by the county’s health services department, aims to improve care for a population with high rates of chronic disease, mental illness and drug addiction.
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