Latest KFF Health News Stories
Baby, That Bill Is High: Private Equity ‘Gambit’ Squeezes Excessive ER Charges From Routine Births
Hospitals, boosted by private equity-backed staffing companies, have embraced a new idea: the obstetrics emergency department. Often, it is just a triage room in the labor-and-delivery area, but it bills like the main emergency department.
$80,000 and 5 ER Visits: An Ectopic Pregnancy Takes a Toll Despite NY’s Liberal Abortion Law
If an embryo has implanted in a fallopian tube, ending the pregnancy is imperative to protect the patient’s life. Women’s health advocates have raised concerns that the needed treatment may be hampered by restrictive abortion laws in some states. Yet women seeking treatment in states with more liberal abortion laws may still find the process expensive and harrowing.
Hemp-Derived Delta-8 Skirts Marijuana Laws and Raises Health Concerns
A cannabis product called delta-8 was made legal when the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp. But unlike its cousin CBD, delta-8 has psychoactive properties. And the FDA warns it has “serious health risks.” The agency has received more than 100 reports of bad reactions among people who consumed it.
Death Is Anything but a Dying Business as Private Equity Cashes In
Investors are banking on increased demand in death care services as 73 million baby boomers near the end of their lives.
Private Equity Sees the Billions in Eye Care as Firms Target High-Profit Procedures
As private equity groups are swarming into aging America’s eye care, the consolidation is costing the U.S. health care system and patients more money.
California y Nueva York buscan frenar la venta de píldoras para adelgazar a menores
Si ambas medidas se convierten en ley, sus defensores esperan que den impulso a la restricción de la venta de píldoras dietéticas a niños y adolescentes en más estados.
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.
California and New York Aim to Curb Diet Pill Sales to Minors
California and New York would be the first states to require anyone under 18 to obtain prescriptions to purchase over-the-counter weight loss products, which some research has linked to eating disorders.
Hospitals Cut Jobs and Services as Rising Costs Strain Budgets
More than two years into the pandemic, hospital budgets are beginning to crack. One of the biggest drivers of financial shortfalls has been the cost to find workers.
The July launch of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline was celebrated by many mental health providers and advocates, but it triggered concerns, too, from people who say using the service could lead to increased law enforcement involvement or forced hospitalization.
Journalists Put Polio, Price Transparency, and a Personal Covid Battle in Perspective
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Qué significa el caso de Nueva York para el fin de la polio
Para 2015, la polio se había erradicado casi por completo en todas partes excepto en Pakistán y Afganistán. Pero para 2020 se habían reportado casos en 34 países.
What the Polio Case in New York Tells Us About the End of Polio
The Rockland County case isn’t expected to cause a major outbreak, but it shows how even this rare disease can pop up in undervaccinated communities.
Nursing Homes Are Suing the Friends and Family of Residents to Collect Debts
Debt lawsuits — long a byproduct of America’s medical debt crisis — can ensnare not only patients but also those who help sick and older people be admitted to nursing homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.
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.
Watch: Why the Public Health System Is Having Trouble Containing Monkeypox
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber appeared on CBS News’ streaming network to discuss “Fighting Monkeypox, Sexual Health Clinics Are Underfunded and Ill-Equipped,” an article she wrote with KHN senior correspondent Liz Szabo. It details how ill-equipped the nation’s sexual health clinics and public health system are to tackle monkeypox after decades of underfunding. Weber described […]
Las clínicas de salud sexual luchan sin medios contra la viruela del simio
Las clínicas que tratan las enfermedades de transmisión sexual —que ya se enfrentaban a un aumento explosivo de enfermedades como la sífilis y la gonorrea— se encuentran ahora en la primera línea de la lucha para controlar el brote de viruela del simio, que crece rápidamente.
Fighting Monkeypox, Sexual Health Clinics Are Underfunded and Ill-Equipped
Sexual health clinics are scrambling to properly track, test, and treat hundreds of monkeypox patients. So far, it isn’t going well.
Conservative Blocs Unleash Litigation to Curb Public Health Powers
Spurred on by opposition to pandemic-related health mandates, a coalition of religious liberty groups, conservative think tanks, and Republican state attorneys general has filed a cascade of litigation seeking to rein in the powers of public health authorities.
The Push for Abortion Lawmaking After ‘Dobbs’ Is Unique, Legal and Political Experts Say
The surge of calls for special legislative sessions to pass abortion laws is an unusual occurrence in modern U.S. history, according to experts — one caused by the Supreme Court’s decision to give states more power to regulate abortion.
