City-Country Mortality Gap Widens Amid Persistent Holes in Rural Health Care Access
People in their prime working years living in rural America are 43% more likely to die of natural causes, like diseases, than their urban counterparts, a disparity that grew rapidly in recent decades, according to a new federal report.
Ten Doctors on FDA Panel Reviewing Abbott Heart Device Had Financial Ties With Company
Most of the doctors the FDA tapped to advise it on an Abbott medical device had financial ties to the company. The FDA didn’t disclose the payments.
End of Internet Subsidies for Low-Income Households Threatens Telehealth Access
A federal program that helped pay for more than 23 million low-income households’ internet access runs out of money soon. The end of the subsidy launched earlier in the pandemic could have profound impacts on health care access.
Medical Debt Affects Much of America, but Colorado Immigrants Are Hit Especially Hard
Colorado is ahead of the curve on policies to prevent medical debt, but the gap between the debt load in places inhabited primarily by people of color versus non-Hispanic white residents is greater than the national average.
La deuda médica afecta a gran parte de EE.UU., pero en especial a inmigrantes en Colorado
Las luchas del área reflejan una paradoja sobre Colorado. En general, la carga de deuda médica del estado es más baja que la de la mayoría. Pero las disparidades raciales y étnicas son más amplias.
Journalists Dig Into Measles, Abortion Access, and Medicaid Expansion
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Some Medicaid Providers Borrow or Go Into Debt Amid ‘Unwinding’ Payment Disruptions
Used to operating with scarce resources, Montana Medicaid providers say gaps in state payments have left them struggling further.
This State Isn’t Waiting for Biden To Negotiate Drug Prices
As the federal government negotiates with drugmakers to lower the price of 10 expensive drugs for Medicare patients, impatient legislators in some states are trying to go even further. Leading the pack is Colorado, where a new Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board is set to recommend an “upper payment limit” for drugs it deems unaffordable. In late […]
Journalists Track Efforts to Curb the Opioid Crisis and Put Catholic Hospitals Under the Scope
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Rapid Rise in Syphilis Hits Native Americans Hardest
With U.S. syphilis rates climbing to the worst level in seven decades, public health experts and the federal Indian Health Service are scrambling to detect and treat the disease in Native American communities, where babies are infected at a higher rate than in any other demographic.
As money flows to abortion rights initiatives in states, some donors focus on where anger over the “Dobbs” ruling could propel voter turnout and spur Democratic victories up and down the ballot, including in key Senate races and the White House.
As More States Target Disavowed ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis, Police Groups Push Back
After California passed the first law in the nation to limit the disavowed term “excited delirium,” bills in other states are being introduced to help end use of the diagnosis. But momentum is being met with resistance from law enforcement and first responder groups, who cite free speech.
When Copay Assistance Backfires on Patients
Drugmakers offer copay assistance programs to patients, but insurers are tapping into those funds, not counting the amounts toward patient deductibles. That leads to unexpected charges. But the practice is under growing scrutiny.
Montana, an Island of Abortion Access, Preps for Consequential Elections and Court Decisions
A 25-year-old state Supreme Court ruling protects abortion rights in conservative Montana. That hasn’t stopped Republicans and anti-abortion advocates from trying to institute a ban.
GOP-Led States Expand Crackdowns on Transgender Care
South Carolina’s legislature is poised to pass a bill prohibiting doctors from offering some health-care services to transgender minors — part of a new wave of anti-trans legislation from Republican-led states. The South Carolina bill, which passed the state House of Representatives in January and is under consideration in the Senate, would bar health-care providers […]
Concerns Grow Over Quality of Care as Investor Groups Buy Not-for-Profit Nursing Homes
For-profit groups own more than 70% of U.S. nursing homes. Industry leaders and researchers wonder whether corporations and investors can succeed where not-for-profit organizations have struggled. Or, will quality of care suffer in the name of making money?
Colorado Isn’t Giving up on Its Drug Importation Dream
Colorado hopes to join Florida to become only the second state authorized to import prescription drugs from Canada. But they’re hitting the same hurdles: drugmakers — and the FDA. Colorado officials recently amended their 2022 importation application with the Food and Drug Administration, in the process revealing new correspondence that shows the state’s so-far fruitless […]
America Worries About Health Costs — And Voters Want to Hear From Biden and Republicans
The presidential election is likely to turn on the simple question of whether Americans want Donald Trump back in the White House. But health care tops the list of household financial worries for adults from both parties.
How a Friend’s Death Turned Colorado Teens Into Anti-Overdose Activists
High school students in Colorado are pushing for a change they say is necessary to combat fentanyl poisoning: ensuring students can’t get in trouble for carrying the overdose reversal drug naloxone wherever they go, including at school.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Alabama’s IVF Ruling Still Making Waves
Lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures are scrambling to react to the ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization are legally children. Abortion opponents are divided among themselves, with some supporting full “personhood” for fertilized eggs, while others support IVF as a moral way to have children. Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Riley Griffin of Bloomberg News, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews University of Pittsburgh law professor Greer Donley, who explains how a 150-year-old anti-vice law that’s still on the books could be used to ban abortion nationwide. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too.
