Seeking Refills: Aging Pharmacists Leave Drugstores Vacant in Rural America
By Markian Hawryluk
December 17, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Independent pharmacists who want to retire often have trouble attracting new pharmacists to take over their practices, particularly in rural areas. That can cause smaller towns to lose their pharmacies. With many pharmacists near retirement, the problem may only get worse.
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.
As Red States Push Strident Abortion Bans, Other Restrictions Suddenly Look Less Extreme
By Julie Rovner
March 30, 2022
KFF Health News Original
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has yet to make clear its stand on Roe v. Wade. But state lawmakers aren’t waiting to consider a variety of extreme measures: bills that would ban abortions in cases of ectopic pregnancies, allow rapists’ families to object to terminating a victim’s pregnancy, or prohibit the procedure in the case of fetal disability. Do these proposals make the less extreme restrictions seem more mainstream?
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.
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.
‘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.
As Links to MS Deepen, Researchers Accelerate Efforts to Develop an Epstein-Barr Vaccine
By Liz Szabo
October 19, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Recent leaps in medical research have lent urgency to the quest to develop a vaccine against Epstein-Barr, a ubiquitous virus that has been linked to a range of illnesses, from mononucleosis to multiple sclerosis and several cancers.
Movimientos en contra de las vacunas perjudican a los niños más vulnerables
By Amy Maxmen
March 12, 2024
KFF Health News Original
La desinformación, junto con un movimiento por el derecho de los padres que aleja la toma de decisiones de la salud pública, ha contribuido a las tasas de vacunación infantil más bajas en una década.
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.
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.
Mental Health Crisis Teams Aren’t Just for Cities Anymore
By Tony Leys and Arielle Zionts
October 3, 2022
KFF Health News Original
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.
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.
PBMs, the Brokers Who Control Drug Prices, Finally Get Washington’s Attention
By Arthur Allen
May 11, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Drugmakers, pharmacies, and physicians blame pharmacy benefit managers for high drug prices. Congress is finally on board, too, but will it matter?
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.
Rural Americans Have Difficulty Accessing a Promising Cancer Treatment
By Debby Waldman
August 25, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy has eliminated tumors in some late-stage cancer patients, but the cost and complexity of care mean rural Americans have trouble accessing the treatment.
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.
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.
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.
$38,398 for a Single Shot of a Very Old Cancer Drug
By Arthur Allen
October 26, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Lupron, a drug patented half a century ago, treats advanced prostate cancer. It’s sold to physicians for $260 in the U.K. and administered at no charge. Why are U.S. hospitals — which may pay nearly as little for the drug — charging so much more to administer it?
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.