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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Cities Know That the Way Police Respond to Mental Crisis Calls Must Change. But How?

KFF Health News Original

Cities are experimenting with new ways to meet the rapidly increasing demand for behavioral health crisis intervention, at a time when incidents of police shooting and killing people in mental health crisis have become painfully familiar.

FDA’s Plan to Ban Hair Relaxer Chemical Called Too Little, Too Late

KFF Health News Original

The FDA’s recent notice that it would move to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products comes more than a decade after researchers raised alarms about health risks. Scientists say a ban would still leave many dangerous chemicals in hair straighteners.

Even in Bright-Blue California, Abortion Is on the Ballot

KFF Health News Original

The race to replace the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is in full swing in California. Although the state enshrined abortion rights into its constitution, the prospect of a national abortion ban has the candidates vying for a Senate seat putting a spotlight on reproductive rights. Or, at least the Democrats are. Steve Garvey, a […]

Colorado avanza con proyectos para conectar a trabajadores agrícolas con servicios de salud mental

KFF Health News Original

Los proyectos de ley en consideración abordarían la creciente necesidad de tratar los problemas de salud mental en áreas rurales, que se han visto exacerbados por los impactos de la pandemia y el cambio climático.

Halfway Through ‘Unwinding,’ Medicaid Enrollment Is Down About 10 Million

KFF Health News Original

We’re halfway through the Medicaid “unwinding,” in which states are dropping people from the government health insurance program for the first time since the pandemic began. Millions of people have been dumped from the rolls since April, often for procedural issues like failing to respond to notices or return paperwork. But at the same time, […]

Is Housing Health Care? State Medicaid Programs Increasingly Say ‘Yes’

KFF Health News Original

States are using their Medicaid programs to offer poor and sick people housing services, such as paying six months’ rent or helping hunt for apartments. The trend comes in response to a growing homelessness epidemic, but experts caution this may not be the best use of limited health care money.

Back From COP28, California Climate Leaders Talk Health Impacts of Warming

KFF Health News Original

Three leading California officials who represented the state at the United Nations climate talks late last year reflect on climate change’s growing threat to human health — and explain what the state is trying to do about it.

Advocates Say a Practice Harms Disabled Children, Yet Congressional Action Is Stalled

KFF Health News Original

In the photos, a 9-year-old boy with autism appears barricaded between cubbies and furniture stacked near the walls of a North Carolina classroom. His mother, Erin McGrail, said her son was physically restrained at least 14 times while in third grade at Morrisville Elementary School. She said she learned details of his seclusion only after […]

Acuerdo legal en Colorado mejoraría estándares de atención y vivienda para reclusas trans

KFF Health News Original

El Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos encontró en 2014 que las personas trans en prisión tienen muchas más probabilidades de experimentar violencia sexual tras las rejas tanto del personal como de otros presos.

Colorado Legal Settlement Would Up Care and Housing Standards for Trans Women Inmates

KFF Health News Original

A soon-to-be-finalized legal settlement would offer transgender women in Colorado prisons new housing options, including a pipeline to the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility. The change comes amid a growing number of lawsuits across the country aimed at improving health care access and safety for incarcerated trans people.

Is the Nation’s Primary Care Shortage as Bad as Federal Data Suggest?

KFF Health News Original

Federal policymakers have been trying for a long time to lure more primary care providers to understaffed areas. The Biden administration boosted funding in 2022 to address shortages and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pushed sweeping primary care legislation in 2023. But when KFF Health News set out last year to map where the primary care workforce shortages really are — and where […]

Surge in Syphilis Cases Leads Some Providers to Ration Penicillin

KFF Health News Original

Injectable penicillin is the go-to treatment for syphilis and the only treatment considered safe for pregnant people with the disease. But as rates of syphilis increase across the U.S., a shortage of the injectable has prompted some public health agencies to ration it.