Humana Health Plan Overcharged Medicare by Nearly $200 Million, Federal Audit Finds
Medicare Advantage company may face record penalty over alleged billing errors.
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Public Health Experts Worry About Boom-Bust Cycle of Support
Congress has poured tens of billions of dollars into public health since last year. While health officials who have juggled bare-bones budgets for years are grateful for the money, they worry it will soon dry up, just as it has after previous crises such as 9/11, SARS and Ebola. Meanwhile, they continue to cope with an exodus from the field amid political pressure and exhaustion that meant 1 in 6 Americans lost their local health department leader.
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Snag a Vaccine Appointment, Then Face the Next Hurdle: How to Get There?
For some, a vaccine appointment a few hours away is no biggie. For others, it’s a major barrier to gaining protection from the coronavirus.
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Journalists Unpack Patchwork Vaccine Rollout, Rapid Covid Tests and More
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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The Shock and Reality of Catching Covid After Being Vaccinated
At least 5,800 people have fallen ill or tested positive for covid two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. “I now tell everyone, including my colleagues, not to let their guard down.”
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KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Pause and Effect on Covid Vaccines
Podcast panelists discuss a range of health policy developments, from the latest in the covid vaccination effort to the HHS budget, among other things.
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Pandemic Highlights Need for Urgent Care Clinics for Women
For years, women with painful gynecological issues have faced long waits in ERs or longer waits to see their doctors. During the pandemic, women have increasingly turned to women’s clinics that handle urgent issues like miscarriage or serious urinary tract infections.
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Mysterious Ailment, Mysterious Relief: Vaccines Help Some Covid Long Haulers
Scientists who study the post-illness syndrome are taking a close look at patients’ reports of this unexpected benefit of the vaccine.
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Ask KHN-PolitiFact: I’ve Recovered From Covid. Why Do I Still Have to Mask Up?
The simple answer is that enough remains unknown about covid transmission, post-infection immunity and the threat of emerging variants that masks are still advisable.
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Airports Step Up Mental Health Assistance as Passenger Anxiety Soars
As more people return to air travel, tension is mounting in airports nationwide. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson is among those that have responded to the pandemic-related stress and fear among passengers and employees by offering services such as meditation, chaplains and other help in their terminals.
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FDA Seeks a New Way to Review Old Drugs Without Causing Prices to Soar
A misguided federal program called the Unapproved Drugs Initiative, which put the FDA’s stamp of approval on old drugs, led to higher prices. It’s scrapped. So now what?
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Biden Moves to Overturn Trump Birth Control Rules
Return to pre-Trump policy is second win of the week for abortion-rights backers.
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4 Things to Know About the J&J Covid Vaccine Pause
The messaging surrounding vaccine safety and efficacy may mean as much as the science.
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Analysis: I Was a Teenage Rifle Owner, Then an ER Doctor. Assault Weapons Shouldn’t Count as ‘Guns.’
The United States has undergone a cultural, definitional, practical shift on guns and what they are for.
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A Year Into Pandemic, Federal Officials Move to Better Protect Front-Line Workers
Changes would allow N95 sales for industries other than health care and signal an end to the hospital practice of reusing the masks considered essential for worker safety.
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Syphilis Cases in California Drive a Record-Setting Year for STDs Nationwide
New data released Tuesday from the CDC shows sexually transmitted infections reached an all-time high in 2019. The biggest spike was in syphilis cases, which rose 74% between 2015 and 2019. Leading the country in syphilis is California, where men who have sex with men make up half the cases.
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Orange County Hospital Seeks Divorce From Large Catholic Health System
Frustration with the standardization of care across 51 hospitals, loss of local control and restrictions on reproductive health care have pitted Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian against the Providence chain.
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Covid Spawns ‘Completely New Category’ of Organ Transplants
Nearly 60 organ transplants have been performed after the coronavirus “basically destroyed” patients’ hearts and lungs.
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Redfield Joins Big Ass Fans, Which Promotes Controversial Covid-Killing Technology
Dr. Robert Redfield, Trump’s CDC director, lends his scientific credibility to its Clean Air Systems subsidiary, which touts a “virus-killing ion technology” added to its fans. But indoor air quality experts question whether some of its technology works in the real world.
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Letters to the Editor
Readers and Tweeters Give Tips on Treating Diabetes and Long Covid
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
