Health Industry

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Más de 100 millones de estadounidenses viven acosados por las deudas médicas

KFF Health News Original

La investigación revela un problema mucho más extendido de lo que se había informado anteriormente. Esto se debe a que gran parte de la deuda que acumulan los pacientes figura como saldos de tarjetas de crédito, préstamos familiares o planes de pago a hospitales y otros proveedores médicos.

Double Shifts, Credit Card Debt, and Family Loans When Twins Were Born Early

KFF Health News Original

One Chicago woman gave birth to twins 10 weeks prematurely, and the children needed extensive care. The medical bills topped out at around $80,000. Desperate, the parents loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans.

Buy and Bust: When Private Equity Comes for Rural Hospitals

KFF Health News Original

Noble Health swept into two small Missouri towns promising to save their hospitals. Instead, workers and vendors say it stopped paying bills and government inspectors found it put patients at risk. Within two years — after taking millions in federal covid relief and big administrative fees — it locked the doors.

Tras Uvalde, cirujanos de trauma detallan los horrores de las masacres, y reclaman cambios

KFF Health News Original

En estos años, la profesión médica ha desarrollado técnicas como la rápida evacuación de pacientes para salvar a un mayor número de víctimas de tiroteos. Pero traumatólogos cirujanos entrevistados por KHN dicen que incluso esas mejoras solo pueden salvar a una fracción de los pacientes cuando son heridas infligidas por rifles de tipo militar.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Taking a Shot at Gun Control

KFF Health News Original

The U.S. House passed a package of bills seeking to keep some guns out of the hands of children and teenagers, but its fate in the Senate remains a big question mark. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission takes on drug and hospital prices. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Cori Uccello of the American Academy of Actuaries about the most recent report from Medicare’s trustees board.

Lawmaker Takes on Insurance Companies and Gets Personal About His Health

KFF Health News Original

State Sen. Scott Wiener opens up about a weeklong stint in the hospital last year and what it’s like to live with Crohn’s disease. The San Francisco Democrat is pushing a bill that would require insurance companies to cover certain medications while patients appeal denials.

California quiere producir su propia insulina para bajar su alto costo, ¿lo conseguirá?

KFF Health News Original

La administración del gobernador Gavin Newsom señaló que aproximadamente 4 millones de californianos han sido diagnosticados con diabetes, una enfermedad que puede destruir órganos, la vista y llevar a amputaciones si no se controla. La meta es prevenirlo con insulina más económica.

Misinformation Clouds America’s Most Popular Emergency Contraception

KFF Health News Original

At a moment when half of U.S. states stand poised to outlaw or sharply curtail abortion services, the nation’s most popular emergency contraception brand rests in the unlikely stewardship of two private equity firms.

California Wants to Slash Insulin Prices by Becoming a Drugmaker. Can It Succeed?

KFF Health News Original

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed spending $100 million to make insulin affordable to millions of people with diabetes under a new state generic drug label, CalRx. But state officials haven’t said how much the insulin will cost patients or how the state will deal with distribution and other challenges.

Despite a First-Ever ‘Right-to-Repair’ Law, There’s No Easy Fix for Wheelchair Users

KFF Health News Original

Colorado lawmakers approved a measure that will make it easier for people to fix their power wheelchairs when they wear out or break down, but arcane regulations and manufacturers create high hurdles for nationwide reform.

Montana Hires a Medicaid Director With a Managed-Care Past

KFF Health News Original

Montana, one of about a dozen states still managing its own Medicaid programs, has a new Medicaid director who championed handing the management of the program to private companies in Iowa and Kansas.

Agotados por covid y por trabajar 80 horas a la semana, médicos residentes deciden sindicalizarse

KFF Health News Original

Los residentes son médicos recién recibidos, que han terminado la carrera de medicina, y deben pasar de tres a siete años de formación en hospitales universitarios antes de poder ejercer de forma independiente. Ganan poco y trabajan mucho.

Burned Out by Covid and 80-Hour Workweeks, Resident Physicians Unionize

KFF Health News Original

In California and beyond, physician trainees working long hours for what in some states amounts to little more than minimum wage are organizing to seek better pay, benefits, and working conditions. More than 1,300 of them at three L.A. County public hospitals will vote May 30 on whether to strike.