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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Avanzan en varios estados proyectos de ley extremos sobre el uso de baños por género

KFF Health News Original

Al menos uno de los proyectos de ley es tan extremo como para proponer que se considere delito que una persona transgénero entre en una instalación que no coincida con el sexo indicado en su acta de nacimiento.

California Hospitals, Advocates Seek Stable Funding to Retain Behavioral Health Navigators

KFF Health News Original

California has supported expanded use of medications in the fight against opioid use disorder and overdose deaths. But hospitals and addiction treatment advocates say the state needs to secure ongoing funding if it wants more behavioral health workers to guide patients into long-term treatment.

How a Friend’s Death Turned Colorado Teens Into Anti-Overdose Activists

KFF Health News Original

High school students in Colorado are pushing for a change they say is necessary to combat fentanyl poisoning: ensuring students can’t get in trouble for carrying the overdose reversal drug naloxone wherever they go, including at school.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Alabama’s IVF Ruling Still Making Waves

Podcast

Lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures are scrambling to react to the ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization are legally children. Abortion opponents are divided among themselves, with some supporting full “personhood” for fertilized eggs, while others support IVF as a moral way to have children. Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Riley Griffin of Bloomberg News, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews University of Pittsburgh law professor Greer Donley, who explains how a 150-year-old anti-vice law that’s still on the books could be used to ban abortion nationwide. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too.

Bathroom Bills Are Back — Broader and Stricter — In Several States

KFF Health News Original

State lawmakers are resurrecting and expanding efforts to prohibit transgender people from using public restrooms and other spaces that match their gender. Some have sought to ban trans people from “sex-designated spaces,” including domestic violence shelters and crisis centers, which experts say could violate anti-discrimination laws and jeopardize federal funding.

Hacking at UnitedHealth Unit Cripples a Swath of the US Health System: What to Know

KFF Health News Original

Change Healthcare, a firm recently bought by insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, reportedly suffered a cyberattack. The company processes 14 billion transactions annually, including payments and requests for insurance authorizations.

Toxic Gas That Sterilizes Medical Devices Prompts Safety Rule Update

KFF Health News Original

The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening regulation of ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic gas used to sterilize medical devices. The agency is trying to balance the interests of the health care industry supply chain with those of communities where the gas creates airborne health risks.

The Supreme Court Confronts a Public Health Challenge: Homeless Encampments

KFF Health News Original

Homelessness is a soaring public health crisis, with a record 653,000 unhoused people in the United States, according to federal estimates. Tent and recreational vehicle encampments have exploded in recent years, crowding streets and sidewalks from Portland, Ore., to New York. In California, where roughly a third of all the nation’s homeless people live, doctors […]

An Arm and a Leg: Wait, Is Insulin Cheaper Now?

Podcast

Did the price of insulin go down? It’s not quite that simple. On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” producer Emily Pisacreta explores recent changes to the cost of the diabetes medication.

Without Medicare Part B’s Shield, Patient’s Family Owes $81,000 for a Single Air-Ambulance Flight

KFF Health News Original

Sky-high bills from air-ambulance providers have sparked complaints and federal action in recent years. But a rural Tennessee resident fell through the cracks of billing protections — and a single helicopter ride could cost much of her estate’s value.