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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Think ‘Medicare For All’ Is The Only Democratic Health Plan? Think Again

KFF Health News Original

The Democratic presidential candidates have hit hard on health care, but generally the debates have centered on what kind of system candidates propose. The candidates’ ideas on many other issues, such as mental health and gun safety, have attracted much less attention.

California Governor’s Bill-Signing Marathon Offers Glimpse Of 2020 Issues

KFF Health News Original

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on an array of health care bills that will significantly affect the lives of Californians, including many college students, pregnant women, schoolchildren and dialysis patients.

California’s New Transparency Law Reveals Steep Rise In Wholesale Drug Prices

KFF Health News Original

Pharmaceutical companies raised the wholesale cost of their drugs by a median of nearly 26% from 2017 to early 2019, according to California’s first-ever report stemming from a new drug price transparency law. Prices for generic drugs rose nearly 38% during that time.

Age-Old Health Care Debate Shifts From Insuring More People To Cutting Costs

KFF Health News Original

U.S. political parties for years have argued about the role of government in providing health care and expanding coverage to more people. But as the cost of medical services continues to grow faster than most Americans’ incomes, even people with private insurance coverage are finding the cost of care becoming unaffordable, KHN’s Julie Rovner writes in a new article in BMJ.

Taking The Cops Out Of Mental Health-Related 911 Rescues

KFF Health News Original

Denver is considering adopting a new 911 alternative used in Eugene, Ore., that allows mental health and medical professionals, not police officers, to respond to some emergency calls, saving money and de-escalating situations with mentally ill people.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Trump Merges Health And Immigration

KFF Health News Original

President Donald Trump has ordered that legal immigrants obtain health insurance within 30 days of arriving or prove they can pay for any possible medical need ― another policy certain to be challenged in court. Meanwhile, health issues continue to play a major role in campaign 2020. This week, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

‘We Vape, We Vote’: How Vaping Crackdowns Are Politicizing Vapers

KFF Health News Original

In response to the crackdowns on vaping, those who use or sell the e-cigarette products are mobilizing. Touting the “We Vape, We Vote” slogan, this burgeoning movement is positioning itself to be a factor in 2020 elections.

Denuncian fraude a Medicare con aparatos ortopédicos a través de la telemedicina

KFF Health News Original

Llaman por teléfono o aparecen en un chat y preguntan si el adulto mayor siente algún dolor. Luego le envían, en un caso, hasta 13 aparatos ortopédicos: rodilleras, cabestrillos, fajas. Facturan millones a Medicare.

They Enrolled In Medical School To Practice Rural Medicine. What Happened?

KFF Health News Original

Eight years ago, a new medical program opened in Salina, Kan., as an experimental way to promote rural medicine. Hailed as a solution to the rural doctor shortage, only three of its eight newly minted doctors are now working in the most rural communities.