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Pressure is growing on employers to better address the mental health needs of workers. Some big companies have begun to offer options such as peer support groups, and California has adopted a new law that calls on employers to act.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden unveiled a health plan intended to provide a more moderate alternative to his competitors’ “Medicare for All” plans. It would build on the Affordable Care Act but would go much further. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus Planned Parenthood’s very bad week, the U.S. House vote to repeal the health law’s “Cadillac tax” on generous health plans, and the reduction in deaths from opioids.
Although there’s no official clinical diagnosis, the psychiatric and psychological communities have names for the phenomenon of worrying about the Earth’s fate: “climate distress,” “climate grief,” “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety.” The concept also is gradually making its way into the public consciousness in television shows and movies.
Did the Affordable Care Act create equal coverage of mental and physical health? Seems true on paper but not always in practice.
A national trend of boozeless bars is cropping up nationwide to create social spaces without the hangovers, DUIs and alcoholism culture. It’s part of a new push for sober options.
Florida has struggled for years with opioid overdoses — and the highest rate of HIV infection in the U.S. Lawmakers now hope needle exchanges and a "harm reduction" approach could help save lives.
Medicaid pays for mentoring of mental health patients by “peer supporters,” but only if they are state-certified. California is one of two states with no certification program. Legislation pending in Sacramento would change that — if the governor backs it.
Running counter to the efforts of suicide prevention experts and many religious and social norms, some seniors are quietly exploring the option of turning to suicide when they feel they've lived long enough.
Many users now mix opioids with stimulants like meth and cocaine — and researchers believe opioids kicked off this new stimulant wave.
The federal government has doled out at least $2.4 billion in state grants since 2017 to address the opioid epidemic, which killed 47,600 people in the U.S. that year alone. But local officials note that drug abuse problems seldom involve only one substance.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
The widespread availability of naloxone, which reverses overdoses, has radically changed the culture of opioid use on the streets, giving drug users a sense of security and inducing them to seek out the more powerful high of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
It’s never easy to tell a patient about a terminal illness, but a longtime doctor whose own diagnosis was botched says physicians must do better.
In March, a chemical cousin of the anesthetic and club drug ketamine was approved for the treatment of patients with intractable depression. But critics say studies presented to the FDA provided at best modest evidence it worked and did not include information about the safety of the drug, Spravato, for long-term use.
The Affordable Care Act and other federal laws sought to put mental health care on an equal footing with physical health. But patients are still finding that’s not the case.
Children are spending more time on their devices than ever before, despite evidence that excessive screen time puts their minds and bodies at risk. Parents should set limits and stick to them — and also change their own online behavior, experts say.
School psychologists provide the first line of treatment for children with mental health issues. Quantifying the shortage depends on who’s counting.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
For Central American migrants who follow U.S. government rules for pursuing asylum, conditions on the Mexican side of the border are sweltering, filled with anxiety and illness. Few people have a clear timetable for when it will get any better.
Many therapists are not familiar with two key treatment options for trauma recommended by the American Psychiatric Association and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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