KHN Weekly Edition: Nov. 4, 2022

Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions
By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio The nation’s largest private health system, HCA Healthcare, has faced years of scrutiny over its share of emergency room patients who are admitted to the hospital. And now U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for a federal investigation, prompting an escalating defense by the hospital system, based in Nashville, Tennessee.

For Republican Candidates, Talk About Moms and Babies Is a Thorny Issue
By Emmarie Huetteman The abortion issue looms large over the midterm elections, and some in the Republican Party, long associated with efforts to restrict access, are looking to reassure voters they have women’s health in mind.

Centene Showers Politicians With Millions as It Courts Contracts and Settles Overbilling Allegations
By Samantha Young and Andy Miller and Rebecca Grapevine Centene, the largest Medicaid managed-care company in the U.S., has thrown more than $26.9 million at political campaigns across the country since 2015, especially focused on states where it is wooing Medicaid contracts and settling accusations that it overbilled taxpayers. Among its tactics: Centene is skirting contribution limits by giving to candidates through its many subsidiaries.

Haven’t Seen Your Doctor in a Few Years? You May Need to Find a New One
By Michelle Andrews Some primary care physicians will drop seldom-seen patients. That’s a particular problem for those who postponed doctor visits during the pandemic.

Journalists Talk Medicare and Public Health Infrastructure
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.

Shopping for ACA Health Insurance? Here’s What’s New This Year
By Julie Appleby Consumers may find relief in some key changes made by Congress and the Biden administration, although other issues remain unsettled.

Readers Boo Medical Debt and Viral Threats in Winning Halloween Haikus
We unmask the winner and runners-up in KHN’s fourth annual Halloween haiku competition — plus the original artwork they inspired as a special treat.

California Patients Fear Fallout From Third Dialysis Ballot Measure
By Rachel Bluth Californians are facing the third statewide dialysis initiative in five years. The dialysis industry is spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat Proposition 29 and is running ads saying the measure would force clinics to close — a message that appears to be resonating with patients.

‘Fourth Trimester’ Focus Is Pushed to Prevent Maternal Deaths
By April Dembosky, KQED Public health investigators found that 53% of maternal deaths happened well after a mother left the hospital — from seven days to a year after the birth.

Hospital Investigated for Allegedly Denying an Emergency Abortion After Patient’s Water Broke
By Harris Meyer Federal officials have ordered the probe after reports that a woman whose water broke at 18 weeks could not get medical care recommended by her doctors to end the pregnancy because hospital officials were concerned about Missouri’s strict abortion law.

Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized by Medicare?
By Jordan Rau Each year, Medicare punishes hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and high rates of infections and patient injuries. Check out which hospitals have been penalized.

Medicare Fines for High Hospital Readmissions Drop, but Nearly 2,300 Facilities Are Still Penalized
By Jordan Rau Federal officials said they are penalizing 2,273 hospitals, the fewest since the fiscal year that ended in September 2014. Driving the decline was a change in the formula to compensate for the chaos caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

What Looks Like Pot, Acts Like Pot, but Is Legal Nearly Everywhere? Meet Hemp-Derived Delta-9 THC
By Eric Berger The 2018 farm bill that legalized hemp created a loophole for an unregulated copycat of marijuana. A form of delta-9 THC — the psychoactive substance in pot — doesn’t face the same laws and regulations as marijuana because it comes from hemp. The drug is poised to upend the cannabis industry.

This Open Enrollment Season, Look Out for Health Insurance That Seems Too Good to Be True
By Bram Sable-Smith Complaints about misleading health insurance marketing are soaring. State insurance commissioners are taking notice. They’ve created a shared internal database to monitor questionable business practices, and, in the future, they hope to provide a public-facing resource for consumers. In the meantime, consumers should shop wisely as open enrollment season begins.

Cash for Colonoscopies: Colorado Tries to Lower Health Costs Through Incentives
By Markian Hawryluk State employees could receive checks ranging from $50 to thousands of dollars if they choose the right provider.

California’s Proposed Flavored Tobacco Ban Gives Hookah a Pass
By Rachel Scheier Californians will decide Nov. 8 whether to approve a statewide ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. But the measure, known as Proposition 31, exempts hookah tobacco. Anti-smoking activists criticize the carve-out, calling it the latest example of businesses using identity politics to profit from a deadly product.

Hurricane Ian’s Deadly Impact on Florida Seniors Exposes Need for New Preparation Strategies
By Judith Graham Lengthy checklists from public health officials on handling emergencies miss vulnerable seniors who can’t always follow the recommendations.

Colorado Voters to Decide Whether All Schoolkids Get a Free Lunch
By John Daley, Colorado Public Radio and Ivy Winfrey, NPR In September, a popular pandemic benefit expired: free school lunch for all children attending public schools. Some states are stepping up to try to keep the free food available, and it is on the ballot next week in Colorado.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: ACA Open Enrollment Without the Drama
The Affordable Care Act’s 10th annual open-enrollment period began Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 15, 2023, in most states. But for the first time, the health law seems to be enrolling Americans with far less controversy than in previous years. Meanwhile, as Election Day approaches, Democrats are focusing on GOP efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Julie Appleby of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Arthur Allen, who wrote the latest KNH-NPR Bill of the Month, about an old but still very expensive cancer drug.