Latest KFF Health News Stories
New Medicare Advantage Plans Tailor Offerings to Asian Americans, Latinos, and LGBTQ+
As more seniors opt for Medicare Advantage, a few small insurers have begun offering plans that provide culturally targeted benefits for cohorts including Asian Americans, Latinos, and LGBTQ+ people. The approach, policy researchers say, has potential and perils.
Medi-Cal Covers Gender-Transition Treatment, but Getting It Isn’t Easy
Pasha Wrangell has faced delays getting gender-affirming care because of red tape and limited providers. Over more than two years, Wrangell has received only about half the total electrolysis sessions recommended. Wrangell’s insurer through Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, acknowledges the shortage of practitioners.
‘Conscience’ Bills Let Medical Providers Opt Out of Providing a Wide Range of Care
Opponents of the wave of state legislation say the measures place health providers’ preferences over patients’ rights.
Familias huyen de los estados que niegan atención de salud a las personas trans
Más de una cuarta parte de los adultos trans encuestados por KFF y The Washington Post a fines del año pasado dijeron que se mudaron a otro vecindario, ciudad o estado en busca de un ambiente más tolerante.
Medical Exiles: Families Flee States Amid Crackdown on Transgender Care
As more states restrict gender-affirming care for transgender people, some are relocating to more welcoming destinations, such as California, Illinois, Maryland, and Nevada, where they don’t have to worry about being locked out of medical care.
A Trans Teen No Longer Feels Welcome in Florida. So She Left.
Josie sensed Florida lawmakers were threatening her health care and ability to be herself at school. So she left. Families of other trans youth are plotting exits as well.
¿Se podrá cumplir con la meta de terminar con la epidemia de VIH para 2030?
Debido a las interrupciones de la pandemia, los funcionarios federales no han tenido estimaciones sólidas de nuevas infecciones o el número de personas que viven con VIH desde finales de 2019.
US Officials Want to End the HIV Epidemic by 2030. Many Stakeholders Think They Won’t.
The federal government’s ambitious plan to end the HIV epidemic, launched in 2019, has generated new ways to reach at-risk populations in targeted communities across the South. But health officials, advocates, and people living with HIV worry significant headwinds will keep the program from reaching its goals.
Transgender People in Rural America Struggle to Find Doctors Willing or Able to Provide Care
Many health professionals in rural areas don’t know how to provide gender-affirming care, leaving transgender patients with few options.
Florida Leaders Misrepresented Research Before Ban on Gender-Affirming Care
The Florida policy backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis relies on one key statistic that many experts question.
Un nuevo uso de las aplicaciones de citas: perseguir infecciones sexuales
Con un surgimiento de las infecciones de transmisión sexual, trabajadores de salud pública encuentran en los apps de citas un espacio ideal para mensajes de prevención y rastreo de contactos.
A New Use for Dating Apps: Chasing STDs
For contact tracers of sexually transmitted diseases, telephones and text messages have become ineffective. Dating apps increasingly are their best bet for informing people of their exposure risks.
Ad Goes Too Far With Claim That Joe Biden Promotes Surgery for Trans Teens
Even some medical experts who are skeptical of gender-affirming care say the White House is not promoting breast removal and genital surgery for teens. But that’s not what an ad, funded by a group led by a former adviser to President Donald Trump, would have you believe.
When Monkeypox Reaches Rural Communities, It Collides With Strained Public Health Systems
In Nevada, local health officials are assessing the threat of monkeypox, but their response may be hampered by historically limited public health infrastructure worn thin by the covid-19 pandemic.
Southern States’ Lackluster Monkeypox Efforts Leave LGBTQ+ Groups Going It Alone
The gay community is disproportionally affected by the monkeypox outbreak, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says public health efforts should prioritize gay and bisexual men. But in the South, some LGBTQ+ advocates fear that this is not happening consistently. They say they are having to take matters into their own hands in the absence of a coordinated response from state governments.
Medical Coding Creates Barriers to Care for Transgender Patients
The codes used by U.S. medical providers to bill insurers haven’t caught up to the needs of trans patients or even international standards. Consequently, doctors are forced to get creative with what codes they use, or patients spend hours fighting big out-of-pocket bills.
To Stem the Spread of Monkeypox, Health Departments Tap Into Networks of Those Most at Risk
Although the disease is currently spreading almost exclusively among men who have sex with men, some cases are turning up in other populations — and that number is likely to grow if public health officials don’t effectively nip the outbreak in the bud.
Critics Worry Government Surveillance of HIV May Hurt More Than It Helps
Some people living with HIV and some state health officials are raising concerns about part of the federal effort to end the HIV epidemic: a new technology that analyzes blood samples to find emerging outbreaks. The critics say it’s too invasive and stigmatizing and might not be more effective than older public health approaches.
A 63-Year-Old Transgender Woman Is Caught in Montana’s Birth Certificate Dispute
Montana is one of a handful of states that bar transgender people from changing the sex on their birth certificates. Health professionals say that gender marker should be erased completely.
Lo que debes saber sobre la viruela del simio
Generalmente es una enfermedad leve, pero puede ser grave o incluso mortal para las personas inmunodeprimidas, embarazadas, fetos o recién nacidos, mujeres lactantes, niños pequeños y personas con enfermedades de la piel, como eccema.
