Health Secretary Becerra Touts Extreme Heat Protections. Farmworkers Want More.
By Vanessa G. Sánchez
September 9, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has a plan to protect farmworkers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, but farmworkers who pick California grapes say they need more, as climate change brings more extreme weather.
California’s Ambitious Medicaid Experiment Gets Tripped Up in Implementation
By Angela Hart
December 5, 2023
KFF Health News Original
The health care insurers, nonprofit organizations, and other groups responsible for implementing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plan to infuse Medicaid with social services say their ability to serve vulnerable, low-income Californians is hamstrung.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Open Enrollment Mixing Bowl
October 19, 2023
Podcast
Open enrollment for Medicare beneficiaries with private health plans began Oct. 15, to be followed Nov. 1 by open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. The selection for both is large — often too large to be navigated easily alone. And people who choose incorrectly can end up with unaffordable medical bills. Meanwhile, those on both sides of the abortion issue are looking to Ohio’s November ballot measure on abortion to see whether anti-abortion forces can break their losing streak in statewide ballot questions since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks
By Fred Clasen-Kelly
March 13, 2024
KFF Health News Original
New Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley is promising to change how the agency reclaims billions of dollars it wrongly pays to beneficiaries, saying the existing process is “cruel-hearted and mindless.”
Ouch. That ‘Free’ Annual Checkup Might Cost You. Here’s Why.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
January 26, 2024
KFF Health News Original
The designers of the Affordable Care Act might have assumed that they spelled out with sufficient clarity that millions of Americans would no longer have to pay for certain types of preventive care. But they didn’t reckon with America’s ever-creative medical billing juggernaut.
When a Quick Telehealth Visit Yields Multiple Surprises Beyond a Big Bill
By Darius Tahir
December 19, 2023
KFF Health News Original
For the patient, it was a quick and inexpensive virtual appointment. Why it cost 10 times what she expected became a mystery.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Congress Punts to a Looming Lame-Duck Session
September 26, 2024
Podcast
Congress left Washington for the campaign trail this week, but not before approving a spending bill that expires shortly before Christmas. Lawmakers will be busy after the election working on not just the legislation needed to keep the government running, but also several health programs set to expire. Meanwhile, Republicans continue to downplay abortion as Democrats press it as a campaign issue. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
An Arm and a Leg: ‘Your Money or Your Life’: This Doctor Wrote the Book on Medical Debt
By Dan Weissmann
November 9, 2023
Podcast
What happens when you can’t afford the health care you need? On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” hear from emergency medicine physician and historian Luke Messac about the history of medical debt collection in the United States.
To Patients, Parents, and Caregivers, Proposed Medicaid Cuts Are a Personal Affront
By Bernard J. Wolfson
March 6, 2025
KFF Health News Original
At a town hall in Orange County, California, angry residents said Congress should keep its hands off Medicaid. The cuts contemplated in a House budget blueprint would bore a giant hole in California’s version of the safety net health insurance program, Medi-Cal, which covers nearly 15 million residents.
Giant Health System Almost Saved a Community Hospital. Now, It Wants to ‘Extract Every Dollar.’
By Bernard J. Wolfson Melissa Montalvo, The Fresno Bee
July 21, 2023
KFF Health News Original
A bankruptcy judge will soon decide whether a Central Valley hospital needs to liquidate to repay its creditors. Its largest creditor, St. Agnes Medical Center, is the very entity that backed out of purchasing the Madera Community Hospital last December.
Hacking at UnitedHealth Unit Cripples a Swath of the US Health System: What to Know
By Darius Tahir
Updated March 1, 2024
Originally Published February 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Change Healthcare, a firm recently bought by insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, reportedly suffered a cyberattack. The company processes 14 billion transactions annually, including payments and requests for insurance authorizations.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A Not-So-Health-y GOP Debate
August 24, 2023
Podcast
The first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 cycle took place without front-runner Donald Trump — and with hardly a mention of health issues save for abortion. Meanwhile, in Florida, patients dropped from the Medicaid program are suing the state for not giving them enough notice or a way to contest their being dropped from the program. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
Social Security Clawbacks Hit a Million More People Than Agency Chief Told Congress
By David Hilzenrath Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group
December 6, 2023
KFF Health News Original
More than 2 million people a year have been sent notices that Social Security overpaid them and demanding they repay the money. That’s twice as many as the head of Social Security disclosed at a congressional hearing in October.
The Burden of Getting Medical Care Can Exhaust Older Patients
By Judith Graham
March 27, 2024
KFF Health News Original
It’s estimated that an older patient can spend three weeks of the year getting care — and that doesn’t count the time it takes to arrange appointments or deal with insurance companies.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': SCOTUS Rejects Abortion Pill Challenge — For Now
June 13, 2024
Podcast
The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, ruling unanimously that the anti-abortion doctor group that filed the suit lacked standing. But abortion opponents are expected to pursue other strategies to ban or restrict the medication. Meanwhile, the Biden administration moves to stop the inclusion of medical debt on individual credit reports, and former President Donald Trump tries to claim credit for $35 insulin. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News, and Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF president and CEO Drew Altman about KFF’s new “Health Policy 101” primer.
An Arm and a Leg: Credit Card, Please
By Dan Weissmann
July 3, 2023
Podcast
What do you do when a medical provider asks you to provide a credit card upfront? In this episode, we hear advice about your options in this situation.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the Abortion Pill
March 28, 2024
Podcast
The Supreme Court this week heard its first abortion case since overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, about an appeals court ruling that would dramatically restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone. But while it seems likely that this case could be dismissed on a technicality, abortion opponents have more challenges in the pipeline. Meanwhile, health issues are heating up on the campaign trail, as Republicans continue to take aim at Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act — all things Democrats are delighted to defend. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Tony Leys, who wrote a KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about Medicare and a very expensive air-ambulance ride. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
Denials of Health Insurance Claims Are Rising — And Getting Weirder
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
May 26, 2023
KFF Health News Original
The Department of Health and Human Services is tasked with monitoring denials both by Obamacare health plans and those offered through employers and insurers. As insurers’ denials become more common, they sometimes defy not just medical standards of care but sheer logic. Why hasn’t the agency fulfilled its assignment?
Feds Join Ranks of Employers with Generous Fertility Benefits
By Michelle Andrews
April 4, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Starting this year, federal employees can choose plans that cover a broad menu of fertility services, including up to $25,000 annually for in vitro fertilization procedures. At the same time, politics around IVF and reproductive health have become a central issue in the current election-year debate.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Let the General Election Commence
August 23, 2024
Podcast
Abortion and reproductive health issues headlined the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as expected. But what Vice President Kamala Harris has in mind for other health policies as the Democratic nominee remains something of a mystery. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump says he would not use the 19th-century Comstock Act to impose, in effect, a national ban on abortion, which angered his anti-abortion backers. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Tony Leys, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a woman who fought back after being charged for two surgeries despite undergoing only one.
