Latest News On Washington

Latest KFF Health News Stories

‘Dreamers’ Can Enroll in ACA Plans This Year — But a Court Challenge Could Get in the Way

KFF Health News Original

Nineteen states are seeking to stall a Biden administration rule that would allow recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to enroll in ACA coverage and qualify for subsidies. DACA provides work authorization and temporary deportation protection to people brought to the U.S. as children without immigration paperwork.

How a Proposed Federal Heat Rule Might Have Saved These Workers’ Lives

KFF Health News Original

Laborers have suffered in extreme heat triggered by climate change. Deaths aren’t inevitable, researchers say: Employers can save lives by providing ample water and breaks.

Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu

KFF Health News Original

Emails show how health officials struggle to track the bird flu, partly in deference to the agricultural industry. As a result, researchers don’t know how often farmworkers are being infected — and could miss alarming signals.

Colorado’s Naloxone Fund Is Drying Up, Even as Opioid Settlement Money Rolls In

KFF Health News Original

Since Colorado created a pool of money to pay for naloxone in 2019, it has distributed more than half a million doses of the opioid reversal drug to hundreds of organizations throughout the state. Now, its main funding stream is drying up.

Health Secretary Becerra Touts Extreme Heat Protections. Farmworkers Want More.

KFF Health News Original

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has a plan to protect farmworkers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, but farmworkers who pick California grapes say they need more, as climate change brings more extreme weather.

Boom, Now Bust: Budget Cuts and Layoffs Take Hold in Public Health

KFF Health News Original

State leaders are cutting public health spending and laying off workers hired during a pandemic-era grant boom. Public health officials say the bust will erode important advancements in the public health safety net, particularly in rural areas.

Del auge a la caída: falta de dinero y despidos golpean a la salud pública

KFF Health News Original

Ante la pandemia, el Congreso asignó más de $800 mil millones para fortalecer la respuesta de los estados ante covid. Esto resultó en un notable aumento del número de trabajadores de salud pública en todo el país. Ese dinero se ha esfumado.

Patient Underwent One Surgery but Was Billed for Two. Even After Being Sued, She Refused To Pay.

KFF Health News Original

A collection agency sought court authority to garnish a patient’s wages to pay a disputed surgery bill. But after the patient showed up in court to argue the bill was bogus, the judge declined to let the bill collector seize her money.

Amid Medicaid ‘Unwinding,’ Many States Wind Up Expanding

KFF Health News Original

The end of pandemic-era Medicaid coverage protections coincided with changes in more than a dozen states to expand coverage for lower-income people, including children, pregnant women, and the incarcerated.

Native American Public Health Officials Are Stuck in Data Blind Spot

KFF Health News Original

For decades, state and federal agencies have restricted or delayed tribes and tribal epidemiology centers from accessing public health data, a blackout that leaves health workers in Native American communities cobbling together information to guide their work, including tracking devastating disease outbreaks.

Why Millions Are Trying FDA-Authorized Alternatives to Big Pharma’s Weight Loss Drugs

KFF Health News Original

Although Novo Nordisk and Lilly lump together the pharmacies that compound semaglutide and tirzepatide with internet cowboys selling fake drugs, there is a distinction. The FDA has offered Americans little clarity about the vast gray and black markets for the drugs.

Idaho’s OB-GYN Exodus Throws Women in Rural Towns Into a Care Void

KFF Health News Original

Idaho’s law criminalizing abortion drove a high-profile exodus of OB-GYNs from the state more than a year ago. Now, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back abortion protections enshrined by Roe v. Wade, patients in rural Idaho are forced to leave their community for gynecological care.

La vacuna contra el sarampión es segura y eficaz. No te dejes engañar por los escépticos

KFF Health News Original

Este año, el 80% de los casos ha sido en personas no vacunadas o con un estatus de vacunación desconocido. Muchos padres han sido influenciados por una avalancha de desinformación difundida por políticos y personalidades en redes sociales, podcasts, y en la TV.