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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Denials of Health Insurance Claims Are Rising — And Getting Weirder

KFF Health News Original

The Department of Health and Human Services is tasked with monitoring denials both by Obamacare health plans and those offered through employers and insurers. As insurers’ denials become more common, they sometimes defy not just medical standards of care but sheer logic. Why hasn’t the agency fulfilled its assignment?

California Hospitals Seek a Broad Bailout, but They Don’t All Need It

KFF Health News Original

As hospitals squeeze Democratic leaders in Sacramento for more money, health care finance experts and former state officials warn against falling for the industry’s fear tactics. They point to healthy profits and a recession-era financing scheme that allows rich hospitals to take tax money from poorer ones.

A medida que bajan los niveles de agua, suben los de arsénico

KFF Health News Original

A medida que el oeste lucha contra una mega sequía que ha durado más de dos décadas y los estados corren el riesgo de recortes en el agua del menguante río Colorado, el Valle de San Luis ofrece pistas sobre lo que el futuro puede deparar.

As Water Levels Drop, the Risk of Arsenic Rises

KFF Health News Original

As the West grapples with a megadrought, its driest spell in at least 1,200 years, rising levels of arsenic — a known carcinogen — in Colorado’s San Luis Valley offer clues to what the future may hold.

Domestic Violence Shelters Move Out of Hiding

KFF Health News Original

A new domestic violence shelter in Bozeman, Montana, reflects efforts nationwide to rethink the model that keeps survivors of abuse in hiding. But there are no guidelines for bringing shelters out into the open, leaving each to make it up as they go.

Abortion Bans Are Driving Off Doctors and Closing Clinics, Putting Basic Health Care at Risk

KFF Health News Original

Doctors say they are reluctant to practice in abortion-banned states, where making the best decision for a patient could run afoul of the law. Even former President Donald Trump’s surgeon general is concerned about the repercussions for women’s health, writes KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner.

Pequeñas comunidades rurales se han convertido en campos de batalla por el acceso al aborto

KFF Health News Original

La búsqueda por promulgar prohibiciones locales se ha vuelto particularmente crítica en pueblos pequeños, situados en las fronteras entre estados que han restringido el aborto y estados donde las leyes preservan el acceso.

Se agrava la crisis del fentanilo en California

KFF Health News Original

Impulsadas en gran medida por la prevalencia del fentanilo, un opioide sintético hasta 100 veces más potente que la morfina, las sobredosis de drogas en California matan ahora a más del doble de personas que los accidentes de tráfico.

He Returned to the US for His Daughter’s Wedding. He Left With a $42,000 Hospital Bill.

KFF Health News Original

After emergency surgery, an American expatriate with Swiss insurance now carries the baggage of a five-figure bill. Costs for medical care in the U.S. can be two to three times the rates in other developed countries, so foreigners and expats with good insurance in their home countries need travel insurance to protect themselves from “crazy prices.”

California’s Fentanyl Problem Is Getting Worse

KFF Health News Original

State lawmakers have recently been debating whether and how to stiffen punishments for dealers, while Gov. Gavin Newsom is targeting fentanyl trafficking and distributing more naloxone. The problem, experts say, is one with no easy or clear answers.

Small, Rural Communities Have Become Abortion Access Battlegrounds

KFF Health News Original

After local leaders in rural Nevada reached an impasse over a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic, an anti-abortion activist pitching local abortion bans across the U.S. arrived at their remote City Hall.

Una FTC más agresiva persigue las fusiones en la industria farmacéutica y a los intermediarios del sector

KFF Health News Original

La Comisión Federal de Comercio está actuando contra las empresas farmacéuticas y los intermediarios del sector, como parte de la campaña de la administración Biden para reducir los precios de los medicamentos en las farmacias.

A More Aggressive FTC Is Starting to Target Drug Mergers and Industry Middlemen

KFF Health News Original

Industry analysts are skeptical that Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan can win her first fight against a drug industry merger. It will be reviewed by a judge appointed by then-President Donald Trump.

Young People Are Having Less Sex Than Their Parents Did at Their Age. Researchers Explore Why.

KFF Health News Original

The percentage of young adults not having sex was rising even before covid made dating harder. Data and research suggest economic precarity, technology, and the warping effects of porn on sexual attitudes may play a role.

A Striking Gap Between Deaths of Black and White Babies Plagues the South

KFF Health News Original

Infant mortality rates across the South are by far the worst in the U.S. A look at South Carolina — where multimillion-dollar programs aimed at improving rates over the past 10 years have failed to move the needle — drives home the challenge of finding solutions, especially in rural communities.