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The federal government’s arcane process for medical coding is influencing which reconstructive surgery options are available, creating anxiety for breast cancer patients.
More than half of Americans contacted about an overdue bill said it related to medical debt. A federal agency has proposed new guidance for what debt collectors are allowed to do when pursuing many types of overdue consumer bills, including medical debt. But some consumer advocates have panned the effort.
The 2024 presidential race is taking on a familiar tone — with Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to ban abortion and repeal the Affordable Care Act and Republicans insisting they have no such plans. Voters will determine whom they believe. Meanwhile, for the second time in a month, a state judge overturned an abortion ban, but few expect the decision to settle the matter. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-Washington Post “Bill of the Month,” about a teenage athlete whose needed surgery lacked a billing code.
Ballad Health, the only hospital system across a large swath of Tennessee and Virginia, has fallen short of quality-of-care and charity care obligations — even as it’s sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills.
The bottleneck caused by states’ reevaluation of Medicaid enrollees has swept up low-income families that rely on other safety-net services.
A rule taking effect Jan. 1 was intended to stop one set of abuses by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, but some pharmacists say it’s enabling these price brokers to simply do new things unfairly.
States and counties look to expand programs that accept donations of unused surplus drugs from places like nursing homes and hospitals and redistribute them to low-income and uninsured residents.
Delaying cancer treatment can be deadly — which makes the roadblock-riddled process that health insurers use to approve or deny care particularly daunting for oncology patients.
In Los Angeles and elsewhere, some parents are having trouble finding the new pediatric covid shot, especially for young children. Not all pediatricians or pharmacies have it and can administer it, even if vaccines.gov says they can.
A group of former professional athletes traveled to Jamaica to try psychedelics as a way to help cope with the aftereffects of concussions and a career of body-pounding injuries. Will this still largely untested treatment work?
No one told a Washington state woman she was racking up massive out-of-pocket charges during a month-long emergency stay in an Oregon hospital. For six months, she and her husband were haunted by looming debt — and bill collectors.
PFAS chemicals are found in hundreds of products and weapons used by the U.S. military. Defense Department officials say a blanket ban on these man-made substances would threaten military readiness.
Even as the covid-19 pandemic wanes, litigation — whether about vaccines, masks, or a range of other public health policies made during the pandemic — isn’t about to end.
Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India’s sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign.
A breast cancer patient who received similar treatments in two states saw significant differences in cost, illuminating how care in remote areas can come with a stiffer price tag.
The elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the presumed Democratic presidential ticket is newly energizing the debate over abortion, while former President Donald Trump attempts to distance himself from more sweeping proposals in the “Project 2025” GOP blueprint put together by his former administration officials and the conservative Heritage Foundation. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” about a preauthorized surgery that generated a six-figure bill.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
Two transgender lawmakers are trying to lay the groundwork for LGBTQ-friendly policies in a conservative state, but tensions are running high as the legislative session nears its end.
Since 2006, federal officials have been charged with setting up a network to let various parts of the U.S. health system share information during emergencies. It still hasn’t been built or even planned, even after the communication and data-sharing failures put on display during the pandemic.
The public health emergency declaration for covid-19 ends May 11, ushering in major changes in how Americans can access and pay for the vaccines, treatments, and tests particular to the culprit coronavirus. But not everyone will experience the same changes, creating a confusing patchwork of coverage — not unlike health coverage for other diseases. Meanwhile, outside advisers to the FDA formally recommended allowing a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription. If the FDA follows the recommendation, it would represent the first over-the-counter form of hormonal contraception. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico 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.
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