The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
California officials should have obtained federal approval before they cut reimbursement rates for dental hygienists who serve frail Californians living in nursing homes and board-and-care facilities, a judge has ruled.
“Edith + Eddie,” a documentary shortlisted for an Academy Award, is a gripping look at a couple in their 90s caught up in an intense family conflict. But more facts about the disputes involving a parent with dementia help to paint a complicated story about aging in America.
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Sarah Kliff of Vox discuss the latest lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. They also explore how your health care system increasingly depends on the state you live in. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists offer their favorite health policy stories of the week.
Five states demand small payments from those who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, but enrollees often face few consequences if they don’t make their remittances.
Forty percent of people are unaware that Congress repealed the penalty for most people who don’t have insurance coverage starting in 2019.
California’s health insurers trotted out a heart-healthy character with an ulterior motive — taking a dig at drugmakers.
Nearly 1 in 3 Medicare patients undergo an operation in their final year of life.
When President Donald Trump signed the nation’s new tax law, he also killed the Affordable Care Act’s tax penalty — but not until 2019. Despite widespread confusion, experts caution that consumers still need to pay the tax penalty if they were uninsured last year or will be this year.
The health effects of extended smoke exposure are largely unknown because it’s difficult to conduct studies. But last summer’s wildfire season has handed scientists a unique opportunity for research.
Vaccinations rates have climbed significantly among hospital workers in recent years, to 83 percent. But that rate masks wide variation among facilities and types of workers. Nationally, the rules are far from uniform or ironclad.
In states that are instituting work requirements for Medicaid coverage, refusing to get a job will not likely make you eligible for subsidies to buy a marketplace plan.
The makers of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, say the test wasn’t meant for the masses. Now they’re working on a “mini-MoCA” that people who are worried about possible dementia can take online.
States often get federal approval to test new approaches to improve Medicaid services or expand coverage. But the GAO study found that too often these efforts are not adequately evaluated or the results are not available in a timely manner.
The collaboration known as ALTO, Alternatives to Opioids, set out to reduce opioid doses in the emergency room by 15 percent. It managed a 36 percent reduction instead.
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News discuss the Trump administration’s proposed regulation that would allow the expansion of short-term health insurance policies that do not comply with all the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The panelists also talk about federal funding (or not) of public health research around guns.
Christine Sylvest, a child psychologist who now works in Maryland, for three years attended the Parkland, Fla., high school where a shooting attack left 17 people dead last week. She says the tragedy affects the entire community.
How a California health plan’s CEO and her husband, an executive consultant, got rich off the taxpayer-funded program for the poor. Critics see a conflict of interest, the plan doesn’t, and the state has no rules either way.
Hospitals increasingly team up with lending institutions to offer low- or no-interest loans to patients to make sure their bills get paid. But critics say the complexity of hospital pricing means consumers should be cautious.
The policy change is likely to entice younger and healthier people from the general insurance pool by allowing a range of lower-cost options that don’t include all the benefits required by the federal health law.
A multistate nursing agreement allows nurses to work in numerous states without the hassle and expense of obtaining licenses in each one. More than half of states have signed onto an upgraded version of the agreement — but not California.
