California’s ‘Care Courts’ Are Falling Short
By Christine Mai-Duc
December 13, 2024
KFF Health News Original
California’s controversial experiment to order mental illness and drug treatment for some of its sickest residents is rolling out statewide, but the latest data shows the new initiative is falling far short of early objectives. The Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act — known as Care — recently expanded from 11 pilot counties to all […]
Patients Suffer When Indian Health Service Doesn’t Pay for Outside Care
By Arielle Zionts Katheryn Houghton
September 5, 2024
KFF Health News Original
The Indian Health Service has a program that can pay for outside appointments when patients need care not offered at agency-funded sites. Critics say money shortages, complex rules, and administrative fumbles often block access, however.
It’s a Bird. It’s a Plane. It’s a Medical Response Drone.
By Michelle Andrews
July 30, 2024
KFF Health News Original
What if the first responder on the scene of a cardiac arrest were a drone carrying an automated external defibrillator? When every second counts, public safety professionals are increasingly eyeing drones — which can fly 60 miles an hour and don’t get stuck in traffic — to deliver help faster than an ambulance or EMT. […]
California Pays People With Addiction To Stay Clean — With Feds’ Blessing
By Angela Hart
May 22, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Led by California, a few states are testing an experimental program that pays people to stop using hard drugs. The Golden State was the first to win approval from the Biden administration to cover the sobriety payments, with Medicaid wrapping it into an ambitious health-care initiative spearheaded by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide the […]
People With Down Syndrome Are Living Longer, but the Health System Still Treats Many as Kids
By Tony Leys
April 17, 2023
KFF Health News Original
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.
Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Decried as Biased Against Disabled People
By Daniel Chang
May 14, 2024
KFF Health News Original
People with disabilities say they are abruptly losing their Medicaid home health benefits and are being advised incorrectly when they call state offices for more information. “Every day the anxiety builds,” one beneficiary told KFF Health News.
Indiana Hospitals Pull Merger Application After Pushback Over Monopoly Concerns
By Samantha Liss
November 26, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Two Indiana hospital rivals withdrew their application to merge after facing pushback from the Federal Trade Commission and the public.
Listen: Medical Bills Upended Her Life and Her Credit Score
By Aneri Pattani
October 6, 2022
KFF Health News Original
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.
FTC, Indiana Residents Pressure State To Block Hospital Merger
By Samantha Liss
November 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Hundreds of people and the Federal Trade Commission weighed in on a proposed hospital merger in Terre Haute, Indiana, with most arguing that the creation of a monopoly would increase costs and worsen patient care.
Newsom Offers a Compromise to Protect Indoor Workers from Heat
By Samantha Young
Updated April 18, 2024
Originally Published April 18, 2024
KFF Health News Original
After rejecting proposed rules to protect millions of workers in sweltering warehouses, steamy kitchens, and other hot workplaces, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has offered a compromise to allow the protections to take effect this summer. But state and local correctional workers — and prisoners — would have to wait even longer.
Rescue From Above: How Drones May Narrow Emergency Response Times
By Michelle Andrews
July 22, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Public safety and health care organizations are using drones to speed up lifesaving treatment during medical emergencies in which every second counts.
Ohio Votes on Abortion Rights Today. Eleven States May Follow in 2024.
By Bram Sable-Smith
November 7, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Voters in Ohio are deciding whether to add abortion rights protections to the state’s constitution today. The vote comes on the heels of last year’s string of ballot measure wins for abortion rights in six states: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont. But this is just the start. Next year, 11 more states could see abortion-related […]
California Falling Short of Enrollment Goal as Mental Health Courts Roll Out Statewide
By Christine Mai-Duc
December 3, 2024
KFF Health News Original
California’s goal was to help 2,000 seriously mentally ill people by the end of this year, but data shows fewer than 600 petitions have been filed. As the CARE program expands to every county, officials say it sometimes takes months to locate eligible adults and get them in treatment plans.
Voters Fret High Medical Bills Are Being Ignored by Presidential Rivals
By Noam N. Levey
Updated October 24, 2024
Originally Published October 24, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Health care hasn’t figured prominently on the campaign trail this fall. These voters wish it would.
Harris’ Emphasis on Maternal Health Care Is Paying Dividends With Black Women Voters
By Stephanie Armour
October 2, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Polls are showing renewed support from Black women voters for the Democratic ticket. Vice President Kamala Harris has backed key health priorities for Black women.
Amid Mental Health Staffing Crunch, Medi-Cal Patients Help One Another
By Indira Khera
March 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Peer leaders can help ease the shortage of mental health providers and build trust through shared experiences, state health officials say. In 2022, California started allowing counties to use Medicaid dollars to pay them for their work.
Patients in California County May See Refunds, Debt Relief From Charity Care Settlement
By Molly Castle Work
August 14, 2023
KFF Health News Original
As hospitals are criticized for skimping on financial assistance, Santa Clara County has agreed to notify 43,000 former patients of possible billing reductions as part of a settlement. Some patients had sued, alleging the county’s hospital system sent them to collections for bills they shouldn’t have received.
In San Francisco’s Chinatown, a CEO Works With the Community To Bolster Hospital
By Bernard J. Wolfson
April 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Jian Zhang, an immigrant from China with a doctorate in nursing, leads the 88-bed Chinese Hospital in San Francisco. The facility faces financial constraints like other independent hospitals, but its strong community support and partnerships have helped it weather tough times.
Florida’s RSV Season Has Started, and It’s Coming Soon to the Rest of US. Here’s a Primer.
By Sam Ogozalek, Tampa Bay Times
July 31, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Florida’s RSV season begins earlier and runs longer than anywhere else in the U.S., according to the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. New vaccines can help, but most older adults, who are vulnerable to RSV, haven’t gotten them yet.
Social Security Chief Testifies in Senate About Plans to Stop ‘Clawback Cruelty’
By David Hilzenrath Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group
Photos by Eric Harkleroad
March 21, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Commissioner Martin O’Malley testifies to two Senate panels that his agency will stop the “injustices” of suspending people’s monthly benefits to recover alleged overpayments. The burden will be on the Social Security Administration to prove the beneficiary was to blame.
