States Reconsider Religious Exemptions for Vaccinations in Child Care
By Matt Volz
November 3, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Providers and health care advocates warn a proposed rule change in Montana would jeopardize immunity levels in child care centers and communities. Efforts to change vaccination exemption rules are underway in other states, too.
‘It’s Becoming Too Expensive to Live’: Anxious Older Adults Try to Cope With Limited Budgets
By Judith Graham
September 7, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Three women explain how life’s surprises can catapult their efforts to carefully manage limited budgets and lead to financial distress.
A Covid Test Medicare Scam May Be a Trial Run for Further Fraud
By Susan Jaffe
May 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Before the covid-19 public health emergency ended, Medicare advocates around the country noticed a rise in complaints from beneficiaries who received at-home covid tests they never requested. Bad actors may have used seniors’ Medicare information to improperly bill the federal government — and could do it again, say federal investigators.
Federal Program to Save Rural Hospitals Feels ‘Growing Pains’
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Tony Leys
January 16, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Fewer than two dozen rural hospitals were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals in the program’s first year. Now, advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are necessary to lure more takers and keep health care in rural communities.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide
September 29, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Congress has once again decided not to decide how to fund the federal government in time for the start of the fiscal year, racing toward a midnight Sept. 30 deadline to pass a stopgap bill that would keep the lights on for two more months. However, it does appear the FDA’s program that gets drugmakers to help fund some of the agency’s review staff will be renewed in time to stop pink slips from being sent. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews filmmaker Cynthia Lowen, whose new documentary, “Battleground,” explores how anti-abortion forces played the long game to overturn Roe v. Wade.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden Declares the Pandemic ‘Over’
September 22, 2022
KFF Health News Original
President Joe Biden, in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” declared the covid-19 pandemic “over,” stoking confusion for members of his administration trying to persuade Congress to provide more funding to fight the virus and the public to get the latest boosters. Meanwhile, concerns about a return of medical inflation is helping boost insurance premiums even as private companies race to get their piece of the health pie. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Lauren Weber of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories they think you should read, too.
Buy and Bust: After Platinum Health Took Control of Noble Sites, All Hospital Workers Were Fired
By Sarah Jane Tribble
September 22, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Two Missouri towns are without operating hospitals after private equity-backed Noble Health left both facilities mired in debt, lawsuits, and federal investigations. The hospitals’ new operator, Platinum Health, agreed to buy them in April for $2 and laid off the last employees in early September.
Another GOP Primary Debate … Another Night of Verbal Clashes
By KFF Health News and PolitiFact staffs
November 9, 2023
KFF Health News Original
In a faceoff that took some strange turns, five presidential hopefuls focused on foreign affairs and inflation but still revealed the party’s political struggles over its abortion position. Once again, former President Donald Trump did not appear on the debate stage.
Doubts Abound About a New Alzheimer’s Blood Test
By Judith Graham
October 26, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Quest Diagnostics is selling a blood test online to consumers. But results may not be reliable or easy to interpret. And it isn’t covered by insurance.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A Judicial Body Blow to the ACA
March 30, 2023
Podcast
A federal judge in Texas has dealt a big setback to the Affordable Care Act. The same judge who tried in 2018 to declare the entire ACA unconstitutional has now ruled that the law’s main provisions for preventive care are unconstitutional and, therefore, unenforceable nationwide. Also this week, North Carolina became the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the ACA. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
West Virginia City Once Battered by Opioid Overdoses Confronts ‘Fourth Wave’
By Taylor Sisk
March 13, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Years of struggle prepared residents in Cabell County, West Virginia, to confront the latest wave of the opioid epidemic as mixtures of fentanyl and other drugs claim lives nationwide.
After a Brief Pandemic Reprieve, Rural Workers Return to Life Without Paid Leave
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
January 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Coastal and politically progressive states have passed stronger paid sick and family leave policies, but many workers in rural America are left out, facing tough decisions when choosing between caring for themselves or sick family members or keeping their jobs.
‘Until It Is Fixed’: Congress Ramps Up Action on Social Security Clawbacks
By David Hilzenrath and Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group
December 15, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, vowed to meet monthly with Social Security officials until the problems surrounding overpayment demands are fixed.
Redes sociales alimentan obsesión por las drogas para bajar de peso, sin hablar de riesgos
By Darius Tahir and Hannah Norman
April 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
La competencia para hacerse con un mercado que podría valer $100.000 millones al año, solo para los fabricantes de medicamentos, ha desencadenado una ola de publicidad que preocupa a las autoridades sanitarias y médicos de todo el mundo.
Medicare Patients Win the Right to Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage
By Susan Jaffe
January 28, 2022
KFF Health News Original
If federal officials accept a court’s decision, some patients will get a chance to seek refunds for their nursing home and other expenses.
No-Cost Preventive Services Are Now in Jeopardy. Here’s What You Need to Know.
By Julie Appleby
April 7, 2023
KFF Health News Original
A federal judge’s recent ruling on the Affordable Care Act is by no means the final word. Even parsing its impact is complicated. Here are key issues to watch as the case works its way through the legal system.
It’s ‘Telehealth vs. No Care’: Doctors Say Congress Risks Leaving Patients Vulnerable
By Sarah Jane Tribble
January 31, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Congress’ $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package included a two-year extension of pandemic-era funding that helped telehealth services grow nationwide. But that cash bridge, embraced by those delivering services to patients in rural areas, doesn’t provide much certainty for the future of remote medicine.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Dealing With Drug Prices
January 13, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Medicare officials tentatively plan to restrict the use of a controversial Alzheimer’s drug to only those patients participating in clinical trials, while the Department of Health and Human Services looks into lowering the monthly Medicare Part B premium. Meanwhile, covid confusion still reigns, as the Biden administration moves, belatedly, to make more masks and tests available. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Los hospitales derivan pacientes de atención primaria a centros de salud “semejantes” para mejorar las finanzas
By Phil Galewitz
Photos by Heidi de Marco
September 9, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Pero, a diferencia de los centros de salud comunitarios, los semejantes no reciben una subvención federal anual para cubrir los costos operativos. Tampoco obtienen la cobertura económica del gobierno federal para casos de negligencia médica.
Después de un aborto espontáneo, trabajadoras no tienen ni tiempo libre ni ayuda de las empresas
By Bryce Covert
January 26, 2022
KFF Health News Original
El aborto espontáneo, que se produce en una cuarta parte de los embarazos, es la forma más común de pérdida de un embarazo. Y, sin embargo, no hay leyes nacionales que protejan a las personas cuando necesitan tomarse un tiempo para afrontar la pérdida.