KHN Weekly Edition: Aug. 11, 2023
Your Exorbitant Medical Bill, Brought to You by the Latest Hospital Merger
Elisabeth Rosenthal
After decades of unchecked mergers, health care is the land of giants, with huge medical systems monopolizing care in many cities, states, and even whole regions of the country. This decreases patient choice, impedes innovation, erodes quality of care, and raises prices. And federal regulators have been slow to act.
New Alzheimer’s Drug Raises Hopes — Along With Questions
Judith Graham
Clinics serving Alzheimer’s patients are working out the details of who will get treated with the new drug Leqembi. It won’t be for everyone with memory-loss symptoms.
A Blood Test That Screens for Cancer: Does It Do More Harm Than Good?
Mark Kreidler
The first of a new wave of cancer-detection blood tests likely saved Gilbert Milam Jr.’s life. But many cancer researchers, wary of overtesting, argue it’s premature to prescribe the Galleri test widely.
Pioneering Study Links Testicular Cancer Among Military Personnel to ‘Forever Chemicals’
Hannah Norman and Patricia Kime
The military first documented health concerns surrounding chemicals known as PFAS decades ago yet has continued to use firefighting foam made with them. Despite scores of lawsuits by its personnel and high rates of testicular cancer among troops, it has been slow to investigate a connection.
As a Union Pushes to Cap Hospital CEO Pay, It’s Accused of Playing Politics
Molly Castle Work
A union is asking Los Angeles city voters to cap hospital executive pay at the U.S. president’s salary. However, hospitals accuse the union of using the proposal as political leverage, and policy experts question whether the policy, if enacted, would be workable.
What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt
Noam N. Levey
Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, KFF Health News is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
The NIH Ices a Research Project. Is It Self-Censorship?
Darius Tahir
The National Institutes of Health appeared to be digging into health misinformation. But then the federal agency stepped back. It can’t quite explain why, sometimes even offering contradictory explanations.
As Many American Cities Get Hotter, Health Systems Face Off Against Heatstroke
Drew Hawkins, Gulf States Newsroom
With millions of Americans suffering under relentless heat waves this summer, more people are seeking medical attention for heat-related illnesses. As temperatures get more extreme, hospitals, fire departments, and ambulance crews are preparing to treat more patients for heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
How the Texas Trial Changed the Story of Abortion Rights in America
Sarah Varney
Stark, plaintive testimony from women denied abortion care represents the start of “the 50-year fight to get rid of Dobbs,” one historian says.
Amid Lack of Accountability for Bias in Maternity Care, a California Family Seeks Justice
Sarah Kwon
April Valentine’s family wants to know whether racism could have played a role in her death. A KFF Health News analysis shows state regulators are ill-equipped to find discrimination in its many forms.
Seeking Medicare Coverage for Weight Loss Drugs, Pharma Giant Courts Black Influencers
Rachana Pradhan
Novo Nordisk, the dominant company in the multibillion-dollar market for weight loss drugs, focuses on Black lawmakers and opinion leaders to spread the message that obesity is a chronic disease that needs treatment.
Lost Medicaid Health Coverage? Here’s What You Need to Know
Samantha Liss
Patient advocates are tackling the “overwhelming task” of connecting people with health insurance as millions lose coverage due to the end of pandemic protections on Medicaid eligibility.
Medi-Cal Covers Gender-Transition Treatment, but Getting It Isn’t Easy
Bernard J. Wolfson
Pasha Wrangell has faced delays getting gender-affirming care because of red tape and limited providers. Over more than two years, Wrangell has received only about half the total electrolysis sessions recommended. Wrangell’s insurer through Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, acknowledges the shortage of practitioners.
Voters Rejected an Anti-Abortion Measure. State GOP Lawmakers Passed a Similar Bill Anyway.
Mike Dennison
The new Montana law contains a couple of significant differences from the measure voters rebuffed last fall.
On Abortion Rights, Ohio Is the New Kansas
Nearly a year to the day after Kansas voters surprised the nation by defeating an anti-abortion ballot question, Ohio voters defeated a similar, if cagier, effort to limit access in that state. This week, they rejected an effort to raise the threshold for approval of future ballot measures from a simple majority, which would have made it harder to protect abortion access with yet another ballot question come November. Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance has dropped to an all-time low, though few noticed. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, about how the “Medicaid unwinding” is going, as millions have their eligibility for coverage rechecked.
Journalists Zero In on Opioid Settlement Cash, Congress, and the Medicaid Unwinding
KFF Health News 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.
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