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Lisa French was told her surgery would cost $1,337. But the hospital sent her a bill for $229,000, then sued her. The case went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court. The court’s ruling could have major implications for determining a “reasonable price” in health care.
Advocates for improving rural health pushed for the CDC to extend its rural health focus by creating an Office of Rural Health. They hope the agency will commit to rural health research and provide analyses that lead to good public health policies for rural communities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious experiment in health care is supposed to cut costs as it fills the needs of hard-to-reach people. The program’s start is chaotic and limited, but it shows promise.
Online platforms are overflowing with testimonials for GLP-1s. The drugs show promise for inducing weight loss, but many aren’t FDA-approved for that use.
Millions of Americans suffer from long covid, which can have debilitating physical effects, including fatigue and difficulty breathing. Yet many patients feel they’re on their own.
The median life expectancy for a U.S. baby born with Down syndrome jumped from about four years in 1950 to 58 years in the 2010s. That’s largely because they no longer can be denied lifesaving care, including surgeries for heart defects. But now, aging adults with Down syndrome face a health system unprepared to care for them.
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.
A growing number of states — including Maryland, Colorado, and Massachusetts — are using tax forms to point people toward lower-cost health coverage available through state insurance marketplaces.
The legality and availability of the abortion pill mifepristone is in question after a federal judge in Texas canceled the FDA’s approval of the first drug used in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. A 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel overruled that decision in part, saying the pill should remain available, but only under the onerous restrictions in place before 2016. Meanwhile, another federal judge in Washington state issued a ruling in a separate case that conflicts with the Texas decision, ordering the FDA not to roll back any of its restrictions on the drug. Victoria Knight of Axios, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Californians 85 and older are especially susceptible to malnutrition. They accounted for almost three in five malnutrition deaths in the state last year.
Horizon Therapeutics, which Amgen is acquiring for about $28 billion, grew large by snapping up cheap drugs from other companies, marketing them to perfection, and jacking up prices.
KFF Health News and CBS News recently reported that multiple lawsuits allege the device has led to grievous injuries to patients’ mouths, resulting in loss of teeth.
A state lawmaker wants all incoming college students to get an HPV vaccine, as part of a push to drive up vaccination rates and prevent cervical cancer. At least four other states have enacted a similar mandate.
One of Montana’s largest mental health providers has ratcheted back services amid financial troubles, leaving a vacuum. State policymakers have promised more money to aid behavioral health care, but lasting change could be years out.
More than 1 in 5 Americans report having been threatened with a firearm, and almost as many say they worry about gun violence every day or almost every day, a new KFF poll shows.
Patients in rural northeastern Nevada soon will have fewer providers and resources, after a local hospital decided to close its medical residency program. Nationally, the number of rural residency slots has grown during the past few years but still makes up just 2% of programs and residents nationwide.
The American Medical Association ducked the abortion issue for years and now sees its members’ professional opinions second-guessed by lawmakers and judges. PhRMA is following the same playbook.
Sarah Varney, a senior correspondent for KHN, joins Ali Rogin of PBS NewsHour to discuss the ruling by a federal judge in Texas that threatens nationwide access to the widely used abortion drug mifepristone, and a separate ruling in Washington state that reached the opposite conclusion.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed federal protections for abortions, medical providers in conservative-led states have been fighting legal and political battles — as well as escalating threats from the anti-abortion movement.
Georgia is among 35-plus states that have used an under-the-radar federal funding mechanism to boost payments for hospitals and other providers under Medicaid. But a government watchdog and a congressional advisory commission say sparse oversight makes it hard to tell if the “directed payments” program is meeting its goals.
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