Latest KFF Health News Stories
Secret Sauce In Maine’s Successful High-Risk Pool: Enough Money
Before the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges began, Maine had an “invisible high-risk pool” in place. Republican lawmakers are pointing to it as a success — but it was better funded by a vast margin than the high-risk pools in the House replacement bill.
Report: Congressional Ethics Office Probing Rep. Chris Collins’ Aussie Investment
The Buffalo News reports the Buffalo, N.Y.-area Republican has drawn inquiries from the Office of Congressional Ethics related to his investment in Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics.
Quiz: Help Us Take The Pulse Of Our Readers
Even the most exalted among us realize health care policy is complicated. Here’s a pop quiz to see what you have learned as a regular reader of Kaiser Health News.
Overwrought Marketing? Ads, Not Research, Create Some Pharma Best-Sellers
A look at how and why strategic, star-studded advertising brought a drug for a little-known neurological condition into your home.
Preexisting Conditions And Continuous Coverage: Key Elements Of GOP Bill
The Republican health plan would require insurers to offer coverage to people who have preexisting medical conditions. But if states opt to allow insurers to charge sick people more than healthy ones, people who have been more than 63 days without coverage could see significantly higher insurance costs.
Segregated Living Linked To Higher Blood Pressure Among Blacks
Blood pressure for African-Americans who moved permanently out of segregated areas into medium-segregation locations decreased on average nearly 4 points while those who went to low-segregation locales dropped almost 6 points, a 25-year study finds.
Trump Says He Knows About Health Care, But Some Of His Facts Seem Alternative
In two interviews, the president reveals some surprising views of health policy.
Houston Hospital Checking To See If Patients’ Cupboards Are Bare
Starting in fall 2015, Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System began to examine the food struggles among patients at four medical sites and found that 11 percent to 30 percent said they had run out of food in the prior month or thought that they would.
Planned Parenthood Funding Could Thwart GOP Efforts On Health Bill
A provision in the House bill to strip funding from organizations that provide abortions may not meet the strict rules needed to bypass the filibuster in the Senate.
Rural Shoppers Face Slim Choices, Steep Premiums On Exchanges
The larger an area’s population, the more likely insurers will compete in that market, according to an Urban Institute analysis.
CMS Gives States Until 2022 To Meet Medicaid Standards Of Care
The Trump administration has given states three more years to meet federal standards aimed at helping elderly and disabled Medicaid enrollees receive services without being forced to go into nursing homes.
Public Restrooms Become Ground Zero In The Opioid Epidemic
People often turn to public restrooms as a place to get high on opioids. It has led some establishments to close their facilities, while others are training employees to help people who overdose.
For Knee Pain, Experts Say Don’t Think About Scoping It
Writing in the journal BMJ, an international group of experts and patients say arthroscopic surgery on the knee does not provide lasting relief.
Expertos cuestionan eficacia de la cirugía de rodilla más popular
Un panel internacional desafió la eficacia de uno de los procedimientos ortopédicos más comunes y recomendó fuertemente no realizar la cirugía artroscópica en pacientes con problemas degenerativos de rodilla.
Reactions To The GOP Health Bill: Voices From The States
What will happen to people with preexisting conditions is one worry some Americans expressed; the high costs of insurance under Obamacare is another.
Parents Of Sick Children Fear Trap If States Have Say On ‘Preexisting Conditions’
“I’m not going to risk my son’s health on the political whims of Jefferson City,” says one Missouri father, whose son requires about $20,000 to $30,000 in medical care expenses a year. The new GOP health bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act lets states decide whether or not insurers must cover people with preexisting conditions, such as birth defects.
Grassley, Chaffetz Send Fiery Response To HHS Memo They Say Chills Whistleblowing
The two Republican lawmakers sent a letter to HHS Secretary Tom Price warning him that whistleblowers in HHS could be intimidated into silence by a department memo instructing employees to get clearance before talking with members of Congress and their staffs.
Medicare no investigó 96 casos de peligrosas infecciones en hospitales
Un informe oficial cuestiona el sistema para reportar y monitorear infecciones adquiridas en centros de salud. Los hospitales reciben bonos, o multas, según el número de casos.
Grupo enseña a familiares de pacientes con Alzheimer a cuidar de ellos mismos
Los médicos y los investigadores reconocen cada vez más que el cuidado de las personas con demencia compromete la salud física y mental de los cuidadores.
Nearly 1 In 3 Recent FDA Drug Approvals Followed By Major Safety Actions
More than 70 drugs approved from 2001 through 2010 ran into safety concerns later that resulted in withdrawals from the market, “black box” warnings or other actions.