I’m Moving Forward and Facing the Uncertainty of Aging
Our “Navigating Aging” columnist sets off on a new phase in life with lessons she’s learned reporting on aging and health.
All Coverage
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Midwives Blame California Rules for Hampering Birth Centers Amid Maternity Care Crisis
Birth centers, where midwives deliver babies with emergency backup from hospitals, can offer an alternative for families as hospitals close maternity units. But the state’s stiff regulations and what many call a dysfunctional licensing process are hobbling new initiatives and forcing some facilities to shut down.
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Beyond Hard Hats: Mental Struggles Become the Deadliest Construction Industry Danger
The physical hazards of construction work have long been a focus of safety professionals. Yet attention on the psychosocial hazards is relatively new, with suicide and substance use soaring among male construction workers. Mitigating those risks requires more than hard hats, safety vests, and protective goggles.
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Voters Backed Abortion Rights but State Judges Have Final Say
Though abortion rights supporters prevailed on ballot measures in seven of the 10 states where abortion was up for a vote on Nov. 5, the state supreme courts voters have elected indicate legal fights to come aren’t clear-cut.
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Can Medical Schools Funnel More Doctors Into the Primary Care Pipeline?
More medical schools say they will no longer charge tuition, in hopes that more students, graduating free of debt, will choose lower-paying primary care careers. But evidence suggests it will take a lot more than a free ride to replenish the primary care pipeline.
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Trump’s Return Puts Medicaid on the Chopping Block
Republicans in Washington are working on plans to shrink Medicaid, the nearly $900-billion-a-year government health insurance program that covers 1 in 5 Americans.
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Journalists Address HHS Under Trump, Rural PFAS Contamination, and Bird Flu
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Doctors, Nurses Press Ahead as Wildfires Strain Los Angeles’ Health Care
A primary care clinic burned, medical offices closed, and hospitals struggled with possible evacuations. The wildfires that have incinerated large swaths of Los Angeles County are stressing the region’s health care infrastructure. Still, providers continue to find ways to deliver vital care.
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Health Care AI, Intended To Save Money, Turns Out To Require a Lot of Expensive Humans
Despite the hype over artificial intelligence in medicine, the systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and maintain. Checking whether an algorithm has developed the software equivalent of a blown gasket can be complicated — and expensive.
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New Year, New Congress, New Health Agenda
Health is unlikely to be a top priority for the new GOP-led 119th Congress and President-elect Donald Trump. But it’s likely to play a key supporting role, with an abortion bill already scheduled for debate in the Senate. Meanwhile, it’s unclear when and how the new Congress will deal with the bipartisan bills jettisoned from the previous Congress’ year-end omnibus measure — including a major deal to rein in the power of pharmacy benefit managers. In this “catch up on all the news you missed” episode, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
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Climate Change Threatens the Mental Well-Being of Youths. Here’s How To Help Them Cope.
The growing toll of climate-related disasters is a risk to the emotional well-being of young people. An Orange County, California, pediatric emergency doctor wants to add questions about climate change to standard mental health screenings conducted in pediatricians’ offices and other settings where kids seek care.
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Medicaid Expansion Debate Will Affect Other Health Policy Issues Before Montana Legislature
Legislative leaders say the decision whether to renew Montana’s Medicaid expansion program this year will loom over behavioral health spending and hospital regulation, among other topics.
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Indiana State Senator Moves To Scrap Hospital Monopoly Law He Helped Create
After rival hospitals in Terre Haute scuttled plans to merge, a state senator has introduced a bill to forbid similar mergers by repealing a state law he helped write.
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Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week.
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A Listener Fighting the Good Fight
A medical resident who listens to “An Arm and a Leg” is pushing for change with the American Medical Association and at the hospital where he works.
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Health Care Is Newsom’s Biggest Unfinished Project. Trump Complicates That Task.
As Gov. Gavin Newsom enters the second half of his final term, health care stands out as his most ambitious but glaringly incomplete initiative for California residents. The issue will likely shape his national profile for better or worse. And now, Donald Trump brings a new wrinkle.
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Biden Administration Bars Medical Debt From Credit Scores
The move, which comes less than two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office, represents a challenge to the new administration.
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Health Insurers Limit Coverage of Prosthetic Limbs, Questioning Their Medical Necessity
Advocates say it is discrimination and are arguing for “insurance fairness” on the grounds that people who have joints surgically replaced typically don’t face the same kinds of coverage challenges.
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Listen: NPR and KFF Health News Explore How Racism and Violence Hurt Health
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony and Emily Kwong, host of NPR’s podcast “Shortwave,” talk about Black families living in the aftermath of lynchings and police killings.
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Stimulant Users Are Caught in Fatal ‘Fourth Wave’ of Opioid Epidemic
The migration of fentanyl into illicit stimulants such as cocaine is especially dangerous for people who are not regular opioid users. That’s because they have a low tolerance for opioids, putting them at greater risk of an overdose. They also often don’t take precautions — such as not using alone and carrying the opioid reversal medication naloxone — so they’re unprepared if they overdose.
