KHN Weekly Edition: Oct. 7, 2022
$80,000 and 5 ER Visits: An Ectopic Pregnancy Takes a Toll Despite NY’s Liberal Abortion Law
By Michelle Andrews
If an embryo has implanted in a fallopian tube, ending the pregnancy is imperative to protect the patient’s life. Women’s health advocates have raised concerns that the needed treatment may be hampered by restrictive abortion laws in some states. Yet women seeking treatment in states with more liberal abortion laws may still find the process expensive and harrowing.
Medical Debt Sunk Her Credit. New Changes From the Credit Reporting Agencies Won’t Help.
By Aneri Pattani
New policies to prevent unpaid medical bills from harming people’s credit scores are on the way. But the concessions made by top credit reporting companies may fall short for those with the largest debt — especially Black Americans in the South.
Listen: Medical Bills Upended Her Life and Her Credit Score
By Aneri Pattani
Penny Wingard, 58, of Charlotte, North Carolina, worries she won’t ever get out from under her medical debt despite new policies that are supposed to prevent medical debt from harming people’s credit scores.
Listen: Grieving Families Face the Cruelest Bills
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber talks with NPR's "Consider This" podcast about her reporting on families confronted with medical bills while grieving the loss of a baby who received expensive hospital care.
Abortion Bans Skirt a Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is a Dangerous Undertaking
By Sarah Varney
The laws criminalizing abortion in many conservative U.S. states are expected to boost birth rates among teens, whose bodies often aren’t built for safe childbirth. For adolescents, the emotional and physical challenges of carrying a pregnancy to term can be daunting.
Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren’t Ready for Climate Change
By Daniel Chang and Lauren Sausser
Hundreds of medical centers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts face serious risks from even relatively weak storms as climate change accelerates sea-level rise — not to mention big ones like Category 4 Hurricane Ian.
Nursing Home Surprise: Advantage Plans May Shorten Stays to Less Time Than Medicare Covers
By Susan Jaffe
Private Medicare Advantage health plans are increasingly ending coverage for skilled nursing or rehab services before medical providers think patients are healthy enough to go home, doctors and patient advocates say.
Watch: Meet the Latest Fact-Checker — Your Doctor
KHN's Mary Agnes Carey talks with American Medical Association President Dr. Jack Resneck Jr. about how misinformation affects doctors and their daily efforts to treat patients.
Addiction Experts Fear the Fallout if California Legalizes Sports Betting
By Mark Kreidler
If California voters approve one or both sports-wagering initiatives on the November ballot, psychiatrists anticipate more cases of problem gambling and gambling addiction. They’re especially concerned about online betting, a very addictive way to play.
Mental Health Crisis Teams Aren’t Just for Cities Anymore
By Tony Leys and Arielle Zionts
In many cities, social workers and counselors are responding to mental health emergencies that used to be solely handled by police. That approach is spreading to rural areas even though mental health professionals are scarcer and travel distances are longer.
Severe Sleep Apnea Diagnosis Panics Reporter Until He Finds a Simple, No-Cost Solution
By Jay Hancock
An industry has grown up around sleep apnea, stirring concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
Photographer’s 12-Year Quest to Document Her Life Produces a Rich Portrait of Aging
By Judith Graham
Twelve years ago, Marna Clarke was seized by a desire to examine what she looked like at age 70 — and to document the results. This creative project has sustained and engaged her since.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Looking Ahead to the Lame-Duck Session
Congress won’t be back in Washington until after Election Day, but lawmakers have left themselves a long list of items to finish up in November and December, including unfinished health care policies. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call; Jessie Hellmann, also of CQ Roll Call; and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Sam Whitehead, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a family who tried to use urgent care to save money, but ended up with a big emergency room bill anyway.
As the Deadline Creeps Up, Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Haikus
Submissions are open for KHN’s fourth annual Halloween Haiku competition. Send us your best scary poems -- if you dare.
Journalists Dig In on the Fiscal Health of the Nation and Hospital Closures in Rural Missouri
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.