KFF Health News Weekly Edition: Nov. 3, 2023

Nursing Homes Say They Can’t Afford Higher Staffing. But Their Finances Are Often Opaque.
By Jordan Rau Perhaps the biggest mystery, as the Biden administration moves to force nursing homes to boost staffing, is this: how much extra money do the nation’s 15,000 homes actually have to hire and retain more nurses and aides? Public comments are due Monday on the most sweeping regulatory changes to hit the industry in decades. The […]

States Reconsider Religious Exemptions for Vaccinations in Child Care
By Matt Volz Providers and health care advocates warn a proposed rule change in Montana would jeopardize immunity levels in child care centers and communities. Efforts to change vaccination exemption rules are underway in other states, too.

What the Health? From KFF Health News: For ACA Plans, It’s Time to Shop Around
It’s Obamacare open enrollment season, which means that, for people who rely on these plans for coverage, it’s time to shop around. With enhanced premium subsidies and cost-sharing assistance, consumers may find savings by switching plans. It is especially important for people who lost their coverage because of the Medicaid unwinding to investigate their options. Many qualify for assistance. Meanwhile, the countdown to Election Day is on, and Ohio’s State Issue 1 is grabbing headlines. The closely watched ballot initiative has become a testing ground for abortion-related messaging, which has been rife with misinformation. This week’s panelists are Mary Agnes Carey of KFF Health News, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News.

Medical School on Cherokee Reservation Will Soon Send Doctors to Tribal, Rural Areas
By Arielle Zionts Native Americans and rural residents are underrepresented in medical schools. But in this new program, 25% of students are Indigenous and half are from rural areas.

Gubernatorial Candidates Quarrel Over Glory for Winning Opioid Settlements
By Aneri Pattani Some gubernatorial candidates are sparring over bragging rights for their state’s share of $50 billion in opioid settlement funds. Many of the candidates are attorneys general who pursued the lawsuits that produced the payouts.

The AMA May Reconsider Single-Payer Health Care
By Julie Rovner Is the American Medical Association going soft on single-payer health care? We’re about to find out. For more than a century, the most influential U.S. physician group has stridently opposed what could generally be described as “national health insurance.” It famously helped defeat health reform efforts in the 1930s and 1940s, delayed the establishment of […]

Street Medicine Practitioners Are Getting Paid. Now They Want Higher Rates.
By Angela Hart Street medicine, the practice of caring for homeless people outdoors, is a burgeoning field — an unfortunate reality as America confronts a growing homelessness epidemic. But it’s at least become a little more rewarding after the Biden administration made an under-the-radar yet revolutionary change to Medicaid. Starting this month, doctors, nurses and other providers can bill […]

A New Era of Vaccines Leaves Old Questions About Prices Unanswered
By Elisabeth Rosenthal The CDC’s RSV vaccination recommendations beg the question: How much should an immunization that will possibly be given to millions of Americans cost to be truly valuable?

Smaller Employers Weigh a Big-Company Fix for Scarce Primary Care: Their Own Clinics
By Phil Galewitz Company health clinics are most common at large workplaces, but some small employers say they see advantages, too: healthier workers, lower costs, and better access to primary care.

Dads Drive Growth in California’s Paid Family Leave Program
By Phillip Reese The number of men in the state taking paid family leave to bond with a new child has risen nearly 20% since the start of the pandemic.

Watch: California and Feds Invest in Health Care for Homeless People
KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses big developments in street medicine, both statewide and nationally.

An Arm and a Leg: John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (Part 2)
By Dan Weissmann The high price of lifesaving tuberculosis drugs makes them inaccessible to many who need them most. On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” hear how a decades-long global fight to reform drug patents is helping to lower the cost.

When That Supposedly Free Annual Physical Generates a Bill
By Julie Appleby Completing a routine depression screening questionnaire during an annual checkup is cost-free under federal law. But, as one woman discovered, answering a doctor’s follow-up questions might not be.

Start Shopping: Enrollment Begins Nov. 1 for Most Obamacare Insurance Plans
By Julie Appleby More than 16 million Americans who buy their own health insurance through state and federal marketplaces have until Jan. 15 to compare prices, change their coverage, or enroll for the first time.

Medical Debt and Nurse Shortages Haunt Winning Halloween Haikus
Entries for our fifth annual Halloween haiku contest left us terrified. Based on a review by our panel of judges, here’s the winner and runners-up — plus the original artwork they inspired.

Medical Debt Is Disappearing From Americans’ Credit Reports, Lifting Scores
By Noam N. Levey As credit rating agencies have removed small unpaid medical bills from consumer credit, scores have gone up, a new study finds.

‘Worse Than People Can Imagine’: Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Breeds Chaos in States
By Phil Galewitz and Katheryn Houghton and Brett Kelman and Samantha Liss As Medicaid programs across the nation review enrollees' status in the wake of the pandemic, patients struggle to navigate the upheaval.

Biden Pick to Lead Social Security Pledges Action on ‘Heartbreaking’ Clawbacks
By David Hilzenrath and Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group At a Senate confirmation hearing, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would address hardships the Social Security agency has caused by demanding money back from beneficiaries.

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.

Medicare Expands the Roster of Available Mental Health Professionals
By Judith Graham Medicare is expanding access to mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists come Jan. 1. But the belief that seniors who suffer from mental health problems should just grin and bear it remains a troubling barrier to care.