Latest Morning Briefing Stories

Rural Doctor Launches Startup To Ease Pain Of Dying Patients

KFF Health News Original

Getting basic health care to rural areas has always been difficult, and delivering specialized care is even harder. One doctor is raising money to get palliative care to patients in rural California.

How California Can Improve Oversight of Home Caregivers

KFF Health News Original

In California, hundreds of thousands of low-income elderly and disabled people receive daily care in their homes from their children, spouses, relatives and others. And, through a program called In-Home Supportive Services, the state pays many of those caregivers about $10 an hour to do the job.

One Man Explains Why He Is Still Uninsured

KFF Health News Original

Leaburn Alexander works two jobs and has a monster commute. There’s no wiggle room in his budget to pay a health insurance premium – and no time even to meet with an enrollment counselor.

State Health Insurance Exchanges Hope To Woo Urban Minorities

KFF Health News Original

Tomorrow it begins again – open enrollment for Obamacare. Two very successful state health insurance exchanges, Connecticut’s and California’s, are both intent on reaching people who avoided signing up last year – especially young Latinos and African-Americans. “The big takeaway for us last year was that the uninsured were really pocketed in a couple of […]

Undocumented Immigrant Not Allowed To Buy Health Insurance Through Marketplace

KFF Health News Original

Even though Jessica Bravo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, isn’t allowed to buy coverage under the Affordable Care Act, she works as a health outreach worker to educate people about the new health law. Until a few months ago, the 19-year-old Costa Mesa resident didn’t know coverage was a possibility for her as well.

California Audit Finds Backlog Of 11,000 Nursing Home Investigations

KFF Health News Original

California’s public health department has failed to adequately manage investigations of nursing homes statewide, resulting in a backlog of more than 11,000 complaints, according to an audit released Thursday.