Latest News On Nevada

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Mistrust and Polarization Steer Rural Governments to Reject Federal Public Health Funding

KFF Health News Original

As the covid-19 pandemic grinds on, Elko County, Nevada, still lacks a public health department. Yet its elected leaders rejected federal funds that could have helped it create one. Decisions like the one in Elko, and ones made by officials with other state and local governments, leave health experts concerned about whether the country’s public health infrastructure will be prepared to handle future health challenges.

Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions

KFF Health News Original

The nation’s largest private health system, HCA Healthcare, has faced years of scrutiny over its share of emergency room patients who are admitted to the hospital. And now U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for a federal investigation, prompting an escalating defense by the hospital system, based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Centene Showers Politicians With Millions as It Courts Contracts and Settles Overbilling Allegations

KFF Health News Original

Centene, the largest Medicaid managed-care company in the U.S., has thrown more than $26.9 million at political campaigns across the country since 2015, especially focused on states where it is wooing Medicaid contracts and settling accusations that it overbilled taxpayers. Among its tactics: Centene is skirting contribution limits by giving to candidates through its many subsidiaries.

Shattered Dreams and Bills in the Millions: Losing a Baby in America

KFF Health News Original

On top of fearing for their children’s lives, new parents of very fragile, very sick infants can face exorbitant hospital bills — even if they have insurance. Medical bills don’t go away if a child dies.

Organ Transplants Are Up, but the Agency in Charge Is Under Fire

KFF Health News Original

A two-year congressional investigation has identified troubling lapses in the nation’s organ transplant system. Blood types mismatched, diseased organs transplanted anyway, and — most often — organs lost or damaged before they can save a life.

Music Festivals Embrace Overdose Reversal Drugs, but Fentanyl Testing Kits Remain Taboo

KFF Health News Original

Music festival promoters are allowing distribution of overdose reversal medication as fentanyl deaths continue to surge. But nonprofits and volunteers are often left to do the work, and more controversial forms of harm reduction aren’t openly allowed.

Babies Die as Congenital Syphilis Continues a Decade-Long Surge Across the US

KFF Health News Original

Congenital syphilis rates keep climbing, according to newly released federal data. But the primary funding source for most public health departments has been largely stagnant, its purchasing power dragged even lower by inflation.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: How to Expand Health Coverage

KFF Health News Original

Democrats in Congress and the states are devising strategies to expand health coverage — through the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid and a “public option.” But progress remains halting, at best. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington may have to agree on how to control prescription drug prices if they wish to finance their coverage initiatives. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews Michelle Andrews, who reported and wrote last month’s KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a very expensive sleep study.

For Spring Season, Young Athletes Get Back in the Game Despite Covid Risk

KFF Health News Original

With schools opening up classrooms, millions of young athletes are also getting out on fields and courts. But pandemic precautions and delays are spurring conflicts among parents, coaches and doctors.

Why the U.S. Is Underestimating Covid Reinfection

KFF Health News Original

Hundreds of Americans suspect they contracted covid early in the pandemic and recovered, only to get infected again months later. But because the U.S. does so little genetic sequencing of covid samples, we don’t know much about reinfection rates.