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The Biden administration is allowing states to use money from the insurance program for low-income and disabled residents to pay for gun violence prevention. California and six other states have approved such spending, with more expected to follow.
The Medical Board of California, which licenses MDs, is developing a program to evaluate, treat, and monitor doctors with alcohol and drug problems. But there is sharp disagreement over whether those who might volunteer for the program should be subject to public disclosure and over how much participants should pay.
It's been more than a year since the FDA declared a national shortage of Adderall, and it’s affecting more than just patients with ADHD. Those with narcolepsy, a much rarer condition, are often treated with the same medication. Without it, they're often unable to drive or function as usual.
Mental health courts have been touted as a means to help reduce the flow of people with mental illness into jails and prisons. But the specialized diversion programs can struggle to live up to that promise, and some say they’re a bad investment.
Major policy changes and disavowals have made this a watershed year for curbing the use of the discredited “excited delirium” diagnosis to explain deaths in police custody. Now the ripple effects are spreading across the country into court cases, state legislation, and police training classes.
California is spending almost $5 billion to address a growing youth mental health crisis. In Los Angeles County, a contract with teletherapy provider Hazel Health is funding free therapy sessions for all interested students. School districts are grateful for the additional support, but express concerns about the remote arrangement.
Coping with disability — and the cost of coping with disability — is an enormously important issue for older adults. Nora Super, an expert on aging, shares her personal story.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will square off in a first-of-its-kind debate on Nov. 30. KFF Health News compared the political rivals’ health care positions, showing how their policies have helped — or hindered — the health of their states’ residents.
Deciding when, or whether, to buy long-term care insurance can be complex. Here’s what to know.
Intermountain Residential in Montana is one of the only facilities in the United States that offer long-term residential behavioral treatment for kids as young as four. Now, administrators say they’re not sure how long it can keep its doors open.
A recent study found that young Black males are substantially more likely to be underdiagnosed and undertreated for the neurological condition than white peers.
A new study finds that young people who have been injured by firearms are more prone to psychiatric diagnoses and developing a substance use disorder than kids who have not been shot — and their families also suffer long-term ill effects.
Medicare is expanding access to mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists come Jan. 1. But the belief that seniors who suffer from mental health problems should just grin and bear it remains a troubling barrier to care.
Completing a routine depression screening questionnaire during an annual checkup is cost-free under federal law. But, as one woman discovered, answering a doctor’s follow-up questions might not be.
Quest Diagnostics is selling a blood test online to consumers. But results may not be reliable or easy to interpret. And it isn’t covered by insurance.
Safe storage maps show gun owners where to put their firearms for safekeeping if they experience a mental health crisis. The idea has support among some gun enthusiasts, but legal obstacles threaten wider adoption.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation expanding paid sick leave to five days, extending bereavement leave to miscarriages and failed adoptions, and approving an eventual $25-an-hour health care minimum wage. Still, in a possible sign of national ambitions, the Democrat vetoed free condoms in schools and refused to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.
As homelessness explodes across California, so does the number of expectant mothers on the streets. Street medicine doctors are getting paid more by Medicaid and offering some of those mothers-to-be a chance to overcome addiction and reverse chronic diseases so they can have healthy babies — and perhaps keep them.
The American College of Emergency Physicians agreed to withdraw its 2009 white paper on excited delirium, removing the only official medical pillar of support left for the theory that has played a key role in absolving police of culpability for in-custody deaths.
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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