Swap Funds or Add Services? Use of Opioid Settlement Cash Sparks Strong Disagreements
The national opioid settlements don’t prohibit using money for initiatives already supported by other means, but doing so could dilute the impact.
Pennsylvania
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Nearly 1 in 4 Adults Dumped From Medicaid Are Now Uninsured, Survey Finds
A first-of-its-kind survey of Medicaid enrollees found that nearly a quarter who were dropped from the program in the last year’s unwinding say they’re uninsured.
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As Bans Spread, Fluoride in Drinking Water Divides Communities Across the US
The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing fluoride has some community leaders arguing that its addition to public drinking water is no longer necessary. But public health experts worry that, much like vaccines, fluoridation may be a victim of its own success.
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Ten Doctors on FDA Panel Reviewing Abbott Heart Device Had Financial Ties With Company
Most of the doctors the FDA tapped to advise it on an Abbott medical device had financial ties to the company. The FDA didn’t disclose the payments.
By David Hilzenrath and Holly K. Hacker -
ACA Plans Are Being Switched Without Enrollees’ OK
Insurance agents say it’s too easy to access consumer information on the Affordable Care Act federal marketplace. Policyholders can lose their doctors and access to prescriptions. Some end up owing back taxes.
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Hospitals Cash In on a Private Equity-Backed Trend: Concierge Physician Care
Hospitals are increasingly stretching a velvet rope, offering “concierge service” to an affluent clientele. Critics say the practice exacerbates primary care shortages.
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Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks
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.”
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Concerns Grow Over Quality of Care as Investor Groups Buy Not-for-Profit Nursing Homes
For-profit groups own more than 70% of U.S. nursing homes. Industry leaders and researchers wonder whether corporations and investors can succeed where not-for-profit organizations have struggled. Or, will quality of care suffer in the name of making money?
By Harris Meyer -
Whistleblower Accuses Aledade, Largest US Independent Primary Care Network, of Medicare Fraud
A recently unsealed lawsuit alleges Aledade Inc. developed billing software that boosted revenues by making patients appear sicker than they were.
By Fred Schulte -
Horse Sedative Use Among Humans Spreads in Deadly Mixture of ‘Tranq’ and Fentanyl
Illegal supplies of fentanyl are being cut with xylazine, a powerful horse tranquilizer. Overdoses involving this veterinary sedative are growing nationally and now Florida officials are tracking the deaths.
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Cities Know That the Way Police Respond to Mental Crisis Calls Must Change. But How?
Cities are experimenting with new ways to meet the rapidly increasing demand for behavioral health crisis intervention, at a time when incidents of police shooting and killing people in mental health crisis have become painfully familiar.
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Hoping to Clear the Air in Casinos, Workers Seek to Ban Tobacco Smoke
Casinos in several states are fighting efforts to ban smoking, and trying to roll back existing anti-smoking laws. One planned facility even moved outside a city’s limits because of voter-approved smoking restrictions.
By Sandy West -
Mental Health Courts Can Struggle to Fulfill Decades-Old Promise
Mental health courts have been touted as a means to help reduce the flow of people with mental illness into jails and prisons. But the specialized diversion programs can struggle to live up to that promise, and some say they’re a bad investment.
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‘I Am Just Waiting to Die’: Social Security Clawbacks Drive Some Into Homelessness
The Social Security Administration is reclaiming billions of dollars in alleged overpayments from some of the nation's poorest and most vulnerable, leaving some people homeless or struggling to stay in housing, beneficiaries and advocates say.
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‘They See a Cash Cow’: Corporations Could Consume $50 Billion of Opioid Settlements
As opioid settlement dollars land in government coffers, a swarm of businesses are positioning themselves to profit from the windfall. But will their potential gains come at the expense of the settlements’ intended purpose — to remediate the effects of the opioid epidemic?
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‘Financial Ruin Is Baked Into the System’: Readers on the Costs of Long-Term Care
Thousands of people shared their experiences and related to the financial drain on families portrayed in the “Dying Broke” series, a joint project by KFF Health News and The New York Times that examined the costs of long-term care.
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Biology, Anatomy, and Finance? More Med Students Want Business Degrees Too
A majority of medical schools now offer dual MD-MBA programs, compared with just a quarter two decades ago. The number of medical students seeking a business degree has nearly tripled. This begs the question: Whom will these doctors serve more, patients or shareholders?
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Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short for So Many
The private insurance market has proved wildly inadequate in providing financial security for millions of older Americans, in part by underestimating how many policyholders would use their coverage.
By Jordan Rau and JoNel Aleccia -
Children Who Survive Shootings Endure Huge Health Obstacles and Costs
A new study finds that young people who have been injured by firearms are more prone to psychiatric diagnoses and developing a substance use disorder than kids who have not been shot — and their families also suffer long-term ill effects.
By Liz Szabo -
Medicare Expands the Roster of Available Mental Health Professionals
Medicare is expanding access to mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists come Jan. 1. But the belief that seniors who suffer from mental health problems should just grin and bear it remains a troubling barrier to care.