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Latest KFF Health News Stories

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Paging the HHS Secretary

KFF Health News Original

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is drawing criticism for his hands-off handling of the covid crisis even though the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and FDA report to him. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor looks to enforce mental health “parity laws” that have failed to achieve their goals. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Noam N. Levey, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a large emergency room bill for a small amount of medical care.

Universidades no consiguen terapeutas para el creciente número de estudiantes en crisis

KFF Health News Original

En medio de la escasez nacional de estos profesionales, compiten con los sistemas hospitalarios, las consultas privadas y la floreciente industria de la telesalud para contratar y retener a los consejeros.

Faxes and Snail Mail: Will Pandemic-Era Flaws Unleash Improved Health Technology?

KFF Health News Original

The covid-19 pandemic exposed how state and local governments’ severely outdated technology can hinder unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid, vaccine registrations, and the flow of other critical information. Now, with hefty federal pandemic relief and unexpected tax windfalls, states may finally have the chance to revamp their information technology for health care and social services. But can they?

‘American Diagnosis’ Episode 2: Reclaiming Native Food Traditions to Nourish Indigenous People

KFF Health News Original

Native foodways of hunting, fishing, gathering, and farming have been under threat since the arrival of Europeans. In this episode, hear how Indigenous people are reclaiming their food traditions to improve community health.

Colleges Struggle to Recruit Therapists for Students in Crisis

KFF Health News Original

The need for mental health services on campus, which was already rising, has skyrocketed during the pandemic, with many students undergoing grave psychological crises. Colleges say they often lack the means to offer competitive salaries to therapists.

States Were Sharing Covid Test Kits. Then Omicron Hit.

KFF Health News Original

The omicron variant upended a system in which states shared rapid covid tests with those that needed them more. Cooperation has turned into competition as states run out of supplies, limit which organizations get them, or hold on to expired kits as a last resort.

In California Nursing Homes, Omicron Is Bad, but So Is the Isolation

KFF Health News Original

Omicron infections are surging in residential care facilities, causing massive sickouts among staff members and an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. The latest visitor restrictions and testing requirements are also compounding the isolation that residents have suffered for almost two years.

It’s Day 6 of Covid, and a Rapid Antigen Test Comes Back Positive. Stay Home, Say Virologists.

KFF Health News Original

Say you’re on Day 6 — or 8 or 10 — of a symptomatic covid infection, and a rapid antigen test comes back positive. Could the test just be detecting bits and pieces of dead virus? If you’re a petri dish, sure. But if you’re a human, chances are you’re still infectious. Virologists weigh in.

Listen: Generous Deals, and a Few Unwanted Surprises, at Covered California

KFF Health News Original

Southern California correspondent Bernard J. Wolfson answers questions about the health coverage deals available on California’s Affordable Care Act marketplace during Radio Bilingüe’s news program “Línea Abierta.”

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Record ACA Enrollment Puts Pressure on Congress

KFF Health News Original

Temporary subsidies helped boost enrollment under the Affordable Care Act to a record 14.5 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. But unless Democrats in Congress extend those subsidies, many of those new enrollees will be in for a rude surprise just ahead of midterm elections. Meanwhile, the need to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer further crowds an already tight legislative schedule. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Diana Greene Foster, author of “The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having — Or Being Denied — An Abortion.”

Georgia Bill Aims to Limit Profits of Medicaid Managed-Care Companies

KFF Health News Original

Georgia lawmakers unveiled a mental health bill that would limit the profits of the managed-care companies that serve Medicaid patients. KHN previously reported that Georgia, unlike most states, does not set a medical loss ratio for the companies’ spending on medical care and quality improvements.

Resistance to a Boston Hospital’s Expansion Centers on Rising Prices

KFF Health News Original

Mass General Brigham’s $2.3 billion expansion plan is raising state officials’ concerns that it will reduce competition and raise the price of care in Massachusetts. It also signals a national shift from a focus on hospital mergers and purchases of physician practices — which boost the cost of care — to individual hospitals’ expansions to gain a bigger share of the market.

Watch: ER Charged $1,012 for Almost No Care

KFF Health News Original

KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal weighs in on the January installment of KHN-NPR’s Bill of the Month, in which a family gets burned over a visit to the emergency room.

Después de un aborto espontáneo, trabajadoras no tienen ni tiempo libre ni ayuda de las empresas

KFF Health News Original

El aborto espontáneo, que se produce en una cuarta parte de los embarazos, es la forma más común de pérdida de un embarazo. Y, sin embargo, no hay leyes nacionales que protejan a las personas cuando necesitan tomarse un tiempo para afrontar la pérdida.

I Write About America’s Absurd Health Care System. Then I Got Caught Up in It.

KFF Health News Original

A KHN reporter had written for years about the people left behind by the absurdly complex and expensive U.S. health care system. Then he found himself navigating that maze as he tried to get his insulin prescription filled.