KFF Health News Weekly Edition: Aug. 23, 2024

Disability Rights Activist Pushes Government To Let Him Participate in Society
By Tony Leys Garret Frey won a U.S. Supreme Court case as a teenager who needed assistance to attend high school. Now, he’s gained concessions under Iowa’s Medicaid program to help him live at home instead of in a care facility.

Trump Drastically Inflates Annual Fentanyl Death Numbers
By Jacob Gardenswartz The former president’s claim of 300,000 annual opioid deaths contradicts government statistics.

A Teen’s Murder, Mold in the Walls: Unfulfilled Promises Haunt Public Housing
By Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam For years, federal lawmakers have failed to deliver the money needed to fix derelict public housing, leaving tenants — mostly people of color and families with low incomes — living with mold and gun violence that has had lasting health consequences.

Biden Administration Blocks Two Private Sector Enrollment Sites From ACA Marketplace
By Julie Appleby Regulators have been under the gun to curb unauthorized Obamacare enrollment and switching of plans. Separately, a pending lawsuit was amended with additional defendants and new allegations regarding tactics to garner greater ACA sales commissions.

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

Cautious Optimism in San Francisco as New Cases of HIV in Latinos Decrease
By Vanessa G. Sánchez New HIV diagnoses have decreased among Latinos in San Francisco, potentially marking the first time in five years that the group hasn’t accounted for the largest number of new cases. Public health experts express cautious optimism, but outreach workers warn that many Latinos still struggle to find testing and treatment.

Traveling To Die: The Latest Form of Medical Tourism
By Debby Waldman Medical aid in death is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia. But only Oregon and Vermont explicitly allow out-of-state people who are terminally ill to die with assistance there. So far, at least 49 people have made the trek while state legislation stalls elsewhere.

Harris Did Not Vote To ‘Cut Medicare,’ Despite Trump’s Claim
By Jacob Gardenswartz Former President Donald Trump’s claim that Vice President Kamala Harris voted to “cut Medicare” is false, experts say.

Inside the Political Fight To Build a Rural Georgia Hospital
By Andy Miller and Sam Whitehead Political drama involving a rural Georgia county reflects how state regulations that govern when and where hospitals can be built or expanded are evolving.

Bipartisan Effort Paves Way for Reviving Shuttered Hospitals in Georgia
By Andy Miller and Sam Whitehead “Certificate of need” laws, largely supported by the hospital industry, limit health facility construction in 35 states and Washington, D.C. Georgia lawmakers decided its law was complicating the reviving of two hospitals critical to their communities.

Harris-Walz Ticket Sharpens Contrast With Trump-Vance on Health Care
By Stephanie Armour As Democrats convene in Chicago to make official their presidential and vice presidential nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz together are raising the prominence of health care as a 2024 election issue.

Journalists Discuss African Mpox Upsurge, EpiPen Alternative, and Medicaid Unwinding
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and state media this week to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week.