Latest KFF Health News Stories
Alone And Aging: Creating A Safety Net for Isolated Seniors
As numbers of vulnerable seniors without relatives rise, groups call for new efforts to navigate declines in physical and mental health.
No Immediate Changes To Your Obamacare Coverage
Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, state officials and advocates say Californians’ health plan is safe for now.
Pence Expanded Health Coverage As Governor, Now Threatens To Take It Away
Indiana’s Obamacare Medicaid expansion — with a conservative twist — may offer lessons for Republicans’ “repeal and replace” promise.
A Frenzy Of Lobbying On 21st Century Cures
Three lobbyists for every member of Congress in a push to pass a bill that increases research funding and speeds up approvals.
California Braces For Medi-Cal’s Future Under Trump And The GOP
California officials jumped at the chance to cover millions more low-income people by expanding its Medicaid program. Now, health policymakers and advocates fear the Trump administration and a Republican-ruled Congress will roll back the state’s progress.
Back To The Future: Insurance Pools For High-Risk Patients Could Be Revived
Trump and leading Republicans like the idea. Some policymakers and experts say it wasn’t viable in the first place.
Long-Stalled FDA Reform Sits On Senate’s Lame-Duck Calendar
The legislation would give federal officials more flexibility in evaluating the effectiveness and safety of drugs and devices and add billions of dollars to NIH funding. But critics say it could endanger patients’ safety and doesn’t do enough to stop spiraling drug prices.
To Get Disability Help In Kansas, Thousands Face A 7-Year Medicaid Waitlist
Nick Fugate has a cognitive disability but held a job and was independent for years. Then he lost his dishwashing job and learned there are long delays getting help he needs from Medicaid in Kansas.
Clinics Help Keep People With Serious Mental Illness Out Of ER
Providing regular care at a Texas clinic prevents patients from cycling back to the hospital in a psychiatric crisis.
Dementia Rates Decline Sharply Among Senior Citizens
Education and better heart health may deserve credit.
Dramática baja de la tasa de demencia en adultos mayores de Estados Unidos
Un nuevo estudio halló que la prevalencia de demencia ha caído considerablemente en los últimos años, en gran parte como resultado del aumento de los niveles de educación y la mejor salud cardíaca de los estadounidenses, factores que están directamente relacionados con la salud cerebral.
In Depressed Rural Kentucky, Worries Grow Over Medicaid
Low-income residents in poverty-stricken Clay County worry what will happen to their health care if Gov. Matt Bevin’s ambitions to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program go forward.
Uncertain Fate Of Health Law Giving Health Industry Heartburn
The effect of “repeal and replace” could have greatest consequences for hospitals. They accepted lower federal funding under the law because their uncompensated care was expected to fall as more people became insured.
Texas: dura polémica porque aumenta el número de niños no vacunados
Texas es uno de los 18 estados que permiten exenciones no médicas a las vacunas requeridas para ir a la escuela. La historia de la familia Moore revela un costado de la controversia entre las decisiones privadas y la salud pública.
Victims Seek Payments As ‘Dr. Death’ Declares Innocence
While hundreds of his former patients submit claims for restitution, a Detroit cancer doctor convicted of making millions by purposefully poisoning them with drugs they didn’t need vows to prove his innocence.
Study Finds Nearby Retail Clinics Don’t Drive Down ER Visits
The results suggest that retail clinics may not provide a solution for reducing unnecessary emergency department visits, researchers say.
‘A Huge Improvement’: Study Finds Inmates Benefit From Much Shorter TB Treatment
A three-month drug regimen to treat latent TB in a California jail system was just as effective as the standard nine-month approach — and the patients were far more likely to finish treatment.
Could Legalizing Pot Diminish California’s Gains Against Smoking?
Some experts worry that smoking pot could lead to use of tobacco, but proponents of marijuana legalization argue that the two products are different and should not be conflated.
Surgeon General Murthy Wants America To Face Up To Addiction
More people struggle with alcohol or drugs than have cancer, and 1 in 5 Americans binge drink. It all costs the nation $420 billion a year. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says we know how to help.
Blue Shield, California’s Biggest Obamacare Insurer, Vows It’s Not ‘Running For The Hills’
The company’s CEO also dismisses Trump’s notion of selling insurance plans across state lines, calling it ‘perplexing.’