Latest KFF Health News Stories
Watch: Behind The Troubling Rise Of Uninsured American Kids
Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Sarah Varney and PBS NewsHour producer Jason Kane report from Tennessee, where the rate of uninsured kids has soared.
American Pot Is The Gold Standard. But Canada Leads The Export Game — For Now.
American marijuana has a reputation for being the best in the world. But the federal prohibition on marijuana makes shipments across state lines or overseas a pipe dream. While U.S. firms expect the restrictions to drop in the coming years, they are stuck operating within state borders. That’s left Canadian cannabis growers to dominate the export market, with U.S. firms falling further behind each year.
Watch: Woman Hit With $28K Bill For A Throat Swab
A routine doctor’s visit for a sore throat brought more than $28,000 in charges for one New York City woman in our latest “Bill of the Month” installment.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: How Do Other Countries Pay For Health Care?
Every country provides and pays for health care differently. Yet surveys show the U.S. health system covers fewer people and costs more than the systems of most other industrialized countries. Are there international systems that the U.S. could emulate or borrow from? On this special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” host Julie Rovner interviews international health experts Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins and Christopher Pope of the Manhattan Institute.
Opinion pages focus on these health topics and others.
Research Roundup: Gun Violence, Antibiotics, Opioid Use And More
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Media outlets report on news from Alaska, Iowa, New York, West Virginia, Kansas, California, Ohio, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas, Maryland, and Illinois.
Having a parent in prison is a “primal wound” for children, advocates say, and there are at least 5 million of them in America. They face increased risks of psychological and behavioral problems and higher odds of entering the criminal justice system themselves. Public health news is on 2020 health predictions, do-not-resuscitate orders, infectious diseases outbreaks in 2019, sickle cell therapy, to eat meat or not?, life after rehab, intermittent fasting, autism, healthspans, and the benefits of altruism, as well.
Amid Surging Trend Of Hospital Mergers, Research Shows Quality Doesn’t Improve And Can Even Worsen
The study is one of the first large-scale efforts to examine whether hospital combinations deliver benefits to offset higher prices associated with the sector’s consolidation. Other hospital news looks at lawsuits over unpaid bills, violations at psychiatric facilities, hospital infections, and more.
New laws in some states require health care providers to inform women how to stop medical abortions, a safe way to end pregnancies. But a new report discusses how a study on the reversals had to be cut short because of life-threatening consequences. Abortion news is from Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Texas, as well.
The rule that insurers have to provide a separate bill to show the amount being spent on the abortion coverage they provide is deeply unpopular outside of the antiabortion movement due to the administrative burden it’s expected to cause. Abortion rights groups also condemn the rule, saying it will cause confusion and further stigmatize a legal form of health care. In other news on the health law: after three years in office President Donald Trump still hasn’t delivered a “replacement” law; and more.
These Christian nonprofit groups offer far lower rates because they are not classified as insurance and are under no legal obligation to pay medical claims. But many of those who buy into them don’t fully realize that their claims don’t have to be met and are left facing sky-high medical bills alone. In other health care cost and insurance news: geographical disparities in prices and medical debt.
Recent advances in medical treatment have given hope to some patients fighting the cancer, which is known for its grim survival rates. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) says he is “clear eyed” about the prognosis, though. “I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the beloved community,” Lewis said. “We still have many bridges to cross.”
Advocates and lawmakers are gearing up for another contentious year ahead of the 2020 elections.
A look at what happened over the holidays as the 2020 candidates gear up for the Iowa caucuses.
First Edition: January 2, 2020
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
President Donald Trump in the fall promised a total ban on all flavors except tobacco, but has since walked that back following pressure from the industry and some consumers. Public health experts say the government would be making a good start with the decision but that it doesn’t go far enough. “Flavors attract kids, and menthol is a flavor,” said Erika Sward, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association. “It really helps to numb the senses and makes the poison go down easier.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s plan calls for the screenings to be rolled out in three phases, one of which will include “health interviews” for migrants under the age of 18. The spotlight was thrown on the agency’s failure to properly monitor young detainees health after several children and teens died in custody. Doctors, however, say the plan doesn’t go far enough. “This agency is responsible for people’s lives and should act like it is,” Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells CNN.
In the upcoming new year, states’ outside-the-box experiments to control drug prices will be put to the test. In other pharmaceutical news: an antibiotics crisis, price hikes from the past year, an uncommon form of dementia, the biopharma flops from 2019, and more.
Delivering the vaccine through an IV and upping the dose better protected monkeys. But doing the same for humans could prove to be tricky.