The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
While the U.S. continues to focus mainly on the opioid crisis, cocaine is quietly making a comeback and has become one of the biggest overdose killers of African Americans when tainted with fentanyl.
Texas passed a bipartisan law against surprise medical billing, but advocates warn that a proposed rule could severely weaken it, continuing to allow surprise bills outside of emergencies.
In the wake of a Kaiser Health News investigation, doctors want the University of Virginia’s health system to stop suing its patients over unpaid bills.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Proposition 65 requires California businesses to label products and buildings with warnings about substances the state deems as toxic, ranging from aloe vera to asbestos. A state panel plans to debate whether to add acetaminophen, the active ingredient of common over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol, to the toxics list, raising questions about the value of these ubiquitous warnings.
Over the past decade, government efforts to create a national system to track and analyze deaths, injuries and other adverse incidents linked to electronic health records repeatedly have failed amid opposition from the technology industry and its supporters in Congress.
Corner stores that provide groceries for those using the federal food stamp program have become magnets for violence just outside St. Louis. Gunshots ring out under the cover of darkness, windows are postered over, and the quality of food doesn’t make a trip to the corner store worth the risk. Now local residents are putting their feet down.
KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony appeared on America’s Heroes Group radio show, Illinois Public Media’s “The 21st” and St. Louis Public Radio’s news magazine “St. Louis on the Air” to discuss how people in low-income neighborhoods are fighting back against crime and spoiled food at their local corner stores.
Despite repeated repeal efforts, the ACA is still intact — and with this year’s open enrollment, consumers can get some meaningful savings on coverage.
Health care is still a top issue in the Democratic primary debate for president, but the candidates’ complicated plans may be doing more to confuse than to educate voters. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Caitlin Owens of Axios and Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more health news. Also, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week.
Some of the numbers cited by the Minnesota senator during Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate miss the mark.
On Season 3, Episode 2 of the podcast “An Arm and a Leg,” an Illinois woman harnesses a lifetime of experience — and frustration — with health care finances to help other people solve their medical bill problems.
Special interests and congressional inaction blocked efforts to track the safety of electronic medical records, leaving patients at risk.
In the past decade, federal and state governments have removed cost and access obstacles, but immunization rates remained flat. That worries public health officials.
California will become the first state to allow unauthorized immigrant adults to receive full Medicaid coverage when it expands eligibility to people ages 19 to 25 in January. But health officials and immigrant rights advocates wonder whether fear of federal immigration policy combined with a youthful sense of not needing health insurance will keep those young adults from joining.
The latest Democratic debate did not dwell on “Medicare for All,” despite strong divisions among the presidential candidates.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s claim during the latest Democratic presidential debate relies on a squishy number, and the context matters.
Family caregivers are the backbone of our nation’s system of long-term care for older adults. Every year, more than 34 million unpaid caregivers — mostly family members — provide essential aid to adults age 50 and older, helping with tasks such as bathing or dressing and, increasingly, performing complex medical tasks such as managing medications, dressing wounds and operating medical equipment.
More than a decade after Congress passed a law mandating equal access for mental and physical health care, Americans struggle to find affordable, in-network mental health providers.
