Medicare Enrollment Blitz Doesn’t Include Options to Move Into Medigap
By Harris Meyer
November 9, 2021
KFF Health News Original
TV ads and mailings targeting seniors tout Medicare Advantage plans this time of year, but millions choosing traditional Medicare make a costly and difficult decision about Medigap coverage, which gets much less attention.
Have a Case of a Covid Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You
By Christina Jewett and JoNel Aleccia and Rachana Pradhan
February 25, 2021
KFF Health News Original
As experts race to get an approved test for covid variants, officials are severely restricted from sharing information about the cases. That makes it harder to protect others.
Hospital Investigated for Allegedly Denying an Emergency Abortion After Patient’s Water Broke
By Harris Meyer
November 1, 2022
KFF Health News Original
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.
Covid ‘Doesn’t Discriminate by Age’: Serious Cases on the Rise in Younger Adults
By Will Stone
May 4, 2021
KFF Health News Original
With older adults vaccinated, doctors say a growing share of their covid patients are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, as more contagious variants circulate among people who remain unvaccinated.
Plan to Fix Postal Service Shifts New Retirees to Medicare — Along With Billions in Costs
By Michael McAuliff
February 25, 2022
KFF Health News Original
After a years-long bitter partisan fight over reforming the U.S. Postal Service’s finances and service, congressional leaders say they have a compromise. The bill, which has won endorsements from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, would force future Postal Service retirees to use Medicare as their primary source of health coverage.
In California, Abortion Could Become a Constitutional Right. So Could Birth Control.
By Rachel Bluth
August 5, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Proposition 1, the constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion in California’s constitution, would also lock in a right that has gotten less attention: the right to “choose or refuse” contraception.
Nurse Convicted of Neglect and Negligent Homicide for Fatal Drug Error
By Brett Kelman
March 25, 2022
KFF Health News Original
RaDonda Vaught, a former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, could spend years in prison after being convicted of two felonies in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.
While Inflation Takes a Toll on Seniors, Billions of Dollars in Benefits Go Unused
By Judith Graham
September 12, 2022
KFF Health News Original
With prices of necessities rising dramatically, many older Americans are having trouble making ends meet. They often don’t know that help is available from a variety of programs, and some sources of financial assistance are underused.
Estafas a Medicare con pruebas para covid pueden generar otros fraudes
By Susan Jaffe
May 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
La cobertura de Medicare para las pruebas caseras de covid-19 finalizó hace pocos días, pero las estafas generadas por este beneficio temporal podrían tener consecuencias persistentes para las personas mayores.
Omicron and Other Coronavirus Variants: What You Need to Know
By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
November 30, 2021
KFF Health News Original
This new variant has set off alarm bells in the public health community, but much remains to be learned about it.
Many Preventive Medical Services Cost Patients Nothing. Will a Texas Court Decision Change That?
By Julie Appleby
September 9, 2022
KFF Health News Original
A federal judge in Texas issued a decision this week that affects the Affordable Care Act. It says one way that preventive services are selected for no-cost coverage is unconstitutional.
‘True Cost of Aging’ Index Shows Many Seniors Can’t Afford Basic Necessities
By Judith Graham
July 25, 2022
KFF Health News Original
The Elder Index, developed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, shows that nearly 5 million older women living alone, 2 million older men living alone, and more than 2 million older couples have incomes that make them economically insecure.
Social Media Is Fueling Enthusiasm for New Weight Loss Drugs. Are Regulators Watching?
By Darius Tahir and Hannah Norman
April 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
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.
Do You Have Health Care and Health Policy Questions? We Want to Hear From You!
March 8, 2021
Page
Whether it’s health coverage, surprise medical bills, or navigating the ins and outs of the coronavirus, it’s no secret that the American health system can be confusing. KFF Health News wants to hear the health care and health policy questions you would like answered by health reporters from our newsroom.
Readers and Tweeters Are Horrified by Harm Tied to Dental Device
March 31, 2023
KFF Health News Original
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Why Medicare Doesn’t Pay for Rapid At-Home Covid Tests
By Michelle Andrews
January 24, 2022
KFF Health News Original
The laws governing Medicare don’t provide coverage for self-administered diagnostic tests, which is precisely what the rapid antigen tests are and why they are an important tool for containing the pandemic.
Behind The Byline: Finding a ‘Superstar’ to Interview
By Jenny Gold
June 1, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Check out KHN’s video series — Behind The Byline: How the Story Got Made. Come along as journalists and producers offer an insider’s view of health care coverage that does not quit.
Why Nurses Are Raging and Quitting After the RaDonda Vaught Verdict
By Brett Kelman and Hannah Norman
April 5, 2022
KFF Health News Original
The former Tennessee nurse faces prison time for a fatal error. Reaction from her peers was swift and fierce on social media and beyond ― and it isn’t over.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Contemplating a Post-‘Roe’ World
February 24, 2022
KFF Health News Original
In anticipation of the Supreme Court rolling back abortion rights this year, both Democrats and Republicans are arguing among themselves over how best to proceed to either protect or restrict the procedure. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are at risk of losing their health insurance when the federal government declares an end to the current “public health emergency.” Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Rachana Pradhan of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Jay Hancock, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a couple whose insurance company deemed their twins’ stay in intensive care not an emergency.
When Mental Illness Leads to Dropped Charges, Patients Often Go Without Stabilizing Care
By Katheryn Houghton
August 4, 2022
KFF Health News Original
When criminal suspects are deemed too mentally ill to go through the court process and their charges are dropped, they can be left without stabilizing treatment — and sometimes end up being charged with additional crimes.