Health Care Costs

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Pain Clinics Made Millions From ‘Unnecessary’ Injections Into ‘Human Pin Cushions’

KFF Health News Original

Pain MD, which once ran as many as 20 clinics across three states, gave chronic-pain patients about 700,000 total injections near their spines, according to court documents. Last year, federal prosecutors proved at trial that the shots were medically unnecessary and part of an extensive fraud scheme.

As States Mull Medicaid Work Requirements, Two With Experience Scale Back

KFF Health News Original

As Republicans consider adding work requirements to Medicaid, Georgia and Arkansas — two states with experience running such programs — want to scale back the key parts supporters have argued encourage employment and personal responsibility.

Top California Democrats Clash Over How To Rein In Drug Industry Middlemen

KFF Health News Original

Frustrated by spiraling drug costs, California lawmakers want to increase oversight of pharmaceutical industry intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers. It’s unclear whether they can persuade Gov. Gavin Newsom to get on board.

A Year After Super Bowl Parade Shooting, Trauma Freeze Gives Way to Turmoil for Survivors

KFF Health News Original

Survivors and witnesses of gun violence often freeze emotionally at first, as a coping mechanism. As the one-year mark since the parade shooting nears, the last installment in our series “The Injured” looks at how some survivors talk about resilience, while others are desperately trying to hang on.

Officials Seek To Dismantle Appeals Board for Montanans Denied Public Assistance

KFF Health News Original

The Montana health department says the Board of Public Assistance is redundant and a bureaucratic hurdle that helps few people. Current and former board representatives say the rare cases in which the panel helps people are important.

Wash, Dry, Enroll: Finding Medicaid Help at the Laundromat

KFF Health News Original

State Medicaid and Affordable Care Act programs have long struggled to connect with lower-income Americans to help them access care. Now some are trying an alternative approach: meeting them at the laundromat.

Indiana Governor Appoints Business Leader To Shake Up Health Care

KFF Health News Original

Gloria Sachdev, a pharmacist by training, has spent years taking on the health care establishment in Indiana, working to pull down high hospital prices and make information public to patients. Now, in a newly created position in the governor’s Cabinet, she’s no longer fighting from the outside.

Across the South, Rural Health Care Has Become ‘Trendy.’ Medicaid Expansion Has Not.

KFF Health News Original

State legislatures nationwide, including several in the South, are spending millions to improve rural health outcomes and access. For years, though, most Southern states have refused billions of federal dollars to provide public health insurance to more low-income adults. That isn’t likely to change with Trump back in office.

Most Insurance Covers IUDs. Hers Cost More Than $14,000.

KFF Health News Original

The Affordable Care Act requires most insurance plans to cover preventive care, including many forms of contraception, without cost to patients — but not if they’re “grandfathered” plans, which predate the law.

Telehealth Companies Boost Ad Spending While Taking on More Complex Medicine

KFF Health News Original

Telehealth startups including Ro and Nurx are spending millions to promote themselves as easy dispensers of medicines. Some companies offer care for birth control, sexual dysfunction, and more complex conditions, including behavioral health disorders and obesity.

Trump’s Funding ‘Pause’ Throws States, Health Industry Into Chaos

KFF Health News Original

A sweeping Trump administration order threw the nation’s health system into disarray Tuesday, as states and the health industry tried to make sense of what looked like a freeze on federal Medicaid funding.

A Program To Close Insurance Gaps for Native Americans Has Gone Largely Unused

KFF Health News Original

Health leaders say a tool to boost medical coverage for Native Americans, a population that has long faced worse health outcomes than the rest of the nation, has been underused by many states and tribes since it was written into the Affordable Care Act more than a decade ago.