Latest News On Children’s Health

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Surprise-Billing Law Loophole: When ‘Out of Network’ Doesn’t Quite Mean Out of Network

KFF Health News Original

Billing experts and lawmakers are playing catch-up as providers find ways to get around new surprise-billing laws, leaving patients like Danielle Laskey of Washington state with big bills for emergency care.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Kids Are Not OK

Podcast

A new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that teenagers, particularly girls, are reporting all-time high rates of violence and profound mental distress. Meanwhile, both sides in the abortion debate are anxiously waiting for a district court decision in Texas that could effectively revoke the FDA’s 22-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more.

It Takes a Village: Foster Program Is a New Model of Care for Indigenous Children

KFF Health News Original

A foster care program on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota is attracting attention from officials elsewhere as they search for ways to reduce trauma inflicted on Indigenous families, who’ve faced generations of high rates of family separation.

Montana Lawmakers Seek More Information About Governor’s HEART Fund

KFF Health News Original

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s Healing and Ending Addiction Through Recovery and Treatment fund has spent $5.2 million since 2021. With a proposed increase, providers and lawmakers alike want to tap into the money.

A Baby Spent 36 Days in an In-Network NICU. Why Did the Hospital Next Door Send a Bill?

KFF Health News Original

A baby spent more than a month in a Chicago NICU. A big bill revealed she was treated by out-of-network doctors from the children’s hospital next door. Her parents were charged despite a state law protecting patients from such out-of-network billing — and sent to collections when they didn’t pay up.

Unmet Needs: Critics Cite Failures in Health Care for Vulnerable Foster Children

KFF Health News Original

More states are moving to specialized managed-care contracts solely to handle medical and behavioral services for foster kids. But child advocates, foster parents, and even state officials say these and other care arrangements are shortchanging foster kids’ health needs.

After a Brief Pandemic Reprieve, Rural Workers Return to Life Without Paid Leave

KFF Health News Original

Coastal and politically progressive states have passed stronger paid sick and family leave policies, but many workers in rural America are left out, facing tough decisions when choosing between caring for themselves or sick family members or keeping their jobs.

Hospital Financial Decisions Play a Role in the Critical Shortage of Pediatric Beds for RSV Patients

KFF Health News Original

Yes, the U.S. is experiencing an unusual spate of childhood RSV infections. But the critical shortage of hospital beds to treat ailing children stems from structural problems in pediatric care that have been brewing for years.

Trickle of Covid Relief Funds Helps Fill Gaps in Rural Kids’ Mental Health Services

KFF Health News Original

Only a sliver of the funding given to state, local, and tribal governments through the American Rescue Plan Act has been steered to mental health nationwide, but mental health advocates and clinicians hope the money it provides will help address gaps in care for children. In Appalachian Ohio, the funding is helping expand services.

Sick Profit: Investigating Private Equity’s Stealthy Takeover of Health Care Across Cities and Specialties

KFF Health News Original

Private equity firms have shelled out almost $1 trillion to acquire nearly 8,000 health care businesses, in deals almost always hidden from federal regulators. The result: higher prices, lawsuits, and complaints about care.