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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Tribal Nations Invest Opioid Settlement Funds in Traditional Healing To Treat Addiction

KFF Health News Original

Hundreds of Native American tribes are getting money from settlements with companies that made or sold prescription painkillers. Some are investing it in sweat lodges, statistical models, and insurance-billing staffers.

After a Child’s Death, California Weighs Rules for Phys Ed During Extreme Weather

KFF Health News Original

A California lawmaker wants the state to craft guidelines for how and when schoolchildren can play or exercise during extreme weather, including heat waves. The bill comes after a 12-year-old boy died after a physical education instructor told him to run as the temperature topped 90 degrees.

Why Medicaid’s ‘Undercount’ Problem Counts

KFF Health News Original

Millions of people were surprised to find themselves booted from Medicaid over the past year after pandemic-era protections expired that had prevented states from terminating their coverage. Turns out, millions of them were also unaware they had been covered by the government program. Nearly 1 in 3 people enrolled in Medicaid in 2022 — or […]

Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Decried as Biased Against Disabled People

KFF Health News Original

People with disabilities say they are abruptly losing their Medicaid home health benefits and are being advised incorrectly when they call state offices for more information. “Every day the anxiety builds,” one beneficiary told KFF Health News.

Nursing Homes Wield Pandemic Immunity Laws To Duck Wrongful Death Suits

KFF Health News Original

More than 172,000 nursing home residents died of covid. In lawsuits, some families who lost loved ones say they were misled about safety measures or told that covid wasn’t a danger in their facilities.

Abortion Bans Are Repelling the Nation’s Future Doctors

KFF Health News Original

Ash Panakam is about to graduate from Harvard Medical School. She’s from Georgia and always assumed she would return to the South for her residency. But the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the nationwide right to abortion changed everything. “Ultimately I shifted my selection pretty drastically,” she said. “I was struggling to find a residency […]

FDA Said It Never Inspected Dental Lab That Made Controversial AGGA Device

KFF Health News Original

Johns Dental Laboratories stopped making the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance last year after a KFF Health News-CBS News investigation into allegations of patient harm. The company had “never” reported any complaints about its products to the FDA, according to the agency.

First Responders, Veterans Hail Benefits of Psychedelic Drugs as California Debates Legalization

KFF Health News Original

California lawmakers have modified a psychedelic drug bill that was vetoed last year, narrowing it to allow only supervised use of psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy, and other hallucinogens rather than decriminalize more broadly. The current bill would establish new state agencies to regulate the program.

San Francisco Tries Tough Love by Tying Welfare to Drug Rehab

KFF Health News Original

Facing an overdose epidemic and public fury over conditions on the streets, famously tolerant San Francisco will start requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug screening, and treatment if necessary, to receive cash public assistance.

Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay for Threats to Reproductive Rights

KFF Health News Original

Democrats running for office are using abortion rollbacks to galvanize voters, with abortion rights ballot initiatives amplifying their lines of attack. In Missouri, the leading Democratic candidate for the Senate also blames Republican Sen. Josh Hawley for threatening access to IVF.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Newly Minted Doctors Are Avoiding Abortion Ban States

Podcast

For the second year in a row, medical school graduates across specialties are shying away from applying for residency training in states with abortion bans or significant restrictions, according to a new study. Meanwhile, Medicare’s trustees report that the program will be able to pay its bills longer than expected — which could discourage Congress from acting to address the program’s long-term financial woes. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish

KFF Health News Original

The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November.

Biden’s Nursing Home Staffing Rule Surfaces Horror Stories

KFF Health News Original

The Biden administration’s plan to set minimum staffing levels for nursing homes prompted comments from more than 46,500 people and organizations — including residents of homes and nurses with harrowing stories about conditions inside. Hundreds of comments like these cemented the resolve of officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month to […]

Tres personas heridas en el desfile del Super Bowl viven con balas que siguen alojadas en sus cuerpos

KFF Health News Original

A casi tres meses del tiroteo en el desfile del Super Bowl de los Kansas City Chiefs, que dejó al menos 24 personas heridas, recuperarse de esas heridas es algo profundamente personal e incluye una sorprendente área gris de la medicina: si las balas deberían o no extraerse.