The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
A Colorado lawmaker giving birth near the start of the state’s four-month legislative session highlighted the lack of comprehensive paid family leave. Yet a bill to add a statewide system that once seemed a sure thing is getting bogged down.
Concerns over Comic Con in Seattle mount as HIMSS and other huge conferences halt their plans.
Cancellations and no-shows for blood drives in states where the virus is spreading — and in ones where it’s not — pose risks for the nation’s inventories.
Emergency medical technicians, ambulance crews and some firefighters are facing new threats from the coronavirus, which could put their normal contingency plans to the test.
KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony spoke with “The 21st” host Jenna Dooley about an Illinois tattoo artist who is changing lives by inking nails on finger amputees, mocking up belly buttons after tummy tucks and fleshing out lips after dog attacks.
The wide field of Democrats vying to face President Donald Trump in the fall has been reduced to two major candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, each with a different prescription for the health system. Meanwhile, Congress and the Trump administration scramble to address the spread of the novel coronavirus. And the Supreme Court agrees to consider the latest case against the Affordable Care Act. Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner, Tami Luhby of CNN and Emmarie Huetteman of Kaiser Health News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more.
If a coronavirus pandemic were to hit the U.S., only 36 states have blueprints for “crisis standards of care” to sort out who gets what kind of medical care amid scarce resources. And not all the plans are of high quality. That means health care providers in some states will be better prepared for a crisis than others — but all could face tough decisions.
Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, calls on state and federal health inspectors to focus on how facilities keep infections from spreading, especially in areas that have reported coronavirus cases.
Since the beginning of 2017, inspectors have cited more nursing homes for failing to ensure that all workers follow federal prevention and control protocols than for any other type of violation, according to federal records.
Even in a solidly blue state where voters were demanding relief from high health care costs, the idea of a government-run public option for health insurance faced a “steam train of opposition.”
In an era when we get flash-flood warnings on our phones and weekly influenza statistics from every state, vital knowledge about the coronavirus outbreak is being kept under wraps.
States tried to tighten vaccine requirements last year in the midst of measles outbreaks, but a backlash against a tougher law in Maine put a referendum on the ballot there. Voters weigh in on Super Tuesday.
In advance of the Super Tuesday primary, California’s Los Angeles County is rotating new touch-screen voting machines among 41 locations, including adult day care centers and jails, to increase voting among populations with historically low turnout.
The Homeland Security secretary missed the mark with his estimate of the flu’s annual U.S. mortality rate.
For those who are sexually active, condoms are widely recognized as the most effective method for preventing HIV and other diseases, if used correctly. But a fact sheet with “unapproved condom imagery” was taken down from a federal website, KHN has learned.
Health policy is complicated. As a result, many journalists ― and sometimes policymakers ― have defaulted to talking about its politics. That means opponents often have shaped the debate about the federal health law’s implementation and effects to foment public fear or anger.
The spread of coronavirus disease to a skilled nursing facility in Washington state underscores the risk the deadly new virus poses in elder care facilities, where illnesses caused by more common pathogens, like seasonal influenza, often spread rapidly.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
KHN Midwest editor and correspondent Laura Ungar shares her expertise on Vice President Mike Pence’s public health track record as he leads the nation’s novel coronavirus response. Ungar covered a 2015 Indiana HIV outbreak and its fallout amid Pence’s tenure as governor.
Since gaining control of the House, Senate and governor’s office, Colorado Democrats are pushing an aggressive health care agenda. With measures to create a public insurance option, welcome drug importation, lower drug prices, curtail surprise billing and cap insulin copays, the state is becoming a likely model for health policies at the federal level.
