Latest KFF Health News Stories
Public Health Agencies Adapt Covid Lessons to Curb Overdoses, STDs, and Gun Violence
Know-how gained through the covid pandemic is seeping into other public health areas. But in a nation that has chronically underfunded its public health system, it’s hard to know which changes will stick.
After Wiping Out $6.7 Billion in Medical Debt, This Nonprofit Is Just Getting Started
Nonprofit RIP Medical Debt buys up unpaid hospital bills plaguing low-income patients and frees them from having to pay.
On the Wisconsin-Illinois Border: Clinics in Neighboring States Team Up on Abortion Care
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Wisconsin banned nearly all abortions. To preserve access, now more than a dozen providers are traveling across the border into Illinois to treat patients. This partnership between Planned Parenthood organizations could be a model as dozens of abortion clinics close across the U.S.
Buy and Bust: Collapse of Private Equity-Backed Rural Hospitals Mired Employees in Medical Bills
The U.S. Labor Department investigates Noble Health after former employees of its shuttered Missouri hospitals say the private equity-backed owner took money from their paychecks and then failed to fund their insurance coverage.
Para las familias médicamente vulnerables, la presión de la inflación es inevitable
Para millones de familias que viven con enfermedades crónicas, trastornos cardíacos, diabetes y cáncer, u otras condiciones debilitantes, la inflación está demostrando ser un doloroso flagelo que podría perjudicar su salud.
‘Still a Lot of Pain’: Four Years After Mass Shooting, Texas Community Grapples With Fallout
Santa Fe, Texas, was a mental health care desert until a 17-year-old gunman killed 10 people at the local high school in 2018. Now the city, which sits in a rural stretch between Houston and Galveston, has a resiliency center, where anyone affected by the shooting can get free counseling. But even with an influx of mental health care, the community struggles with the aftermath.
For Medically Vulnerable Families, Inflation’s Squeeze Is Inescapable
Inflation hasn’t hit Americans like this in decades. And families living with chronic diseases have little choice but to pay more for the medicine, supplies, and food they need to stay healthy.
Community Health Centers’ Big Profits Raise Questions About Federal Oversight
Nonprofit federally funded health centers are a linchpin in the nation’s health care safety net because they treat the medically underserved. The average profit margin is 5%, but some have recorded margins of 20% or more in three of the past four years.
Watch: How Nursing Homes Put Friends and Families on the Hook for Residents’ Debts
In pursuit of unpaid bills, nursing homes across Rochester, New York, have been suing relatives and friends of their residents. This CBS News report, done in partnership with a KHN-NPR investigation, takes a look at the practice and tells the stories of some of the people affected.
Abortion Is Just the Latest Dividing Line Between the Twin Cities of Bristol and Bristol
The community of Bristol straddles the border between two states with very different abortion laws. Tennessee prohibits most abortions at about six weeks and will soon ban them nearly outright. Virginia allows them at least through the second trimester. To maintain abortion access in the area, staff at a clinic on the Tennessee side of the state line are helping open a clinic about a mile down the road on the Virginia side.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A Big Week for Biden
Congress is leaving for its annual summer break having accomplished far more than many expected, including, barring unforeseen snags, a bill to address the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries and extend the enhanced subsidies for insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the abortion issue continues to roil the nation as Indiana becomes the first state to ban the procedure in almost all cases since the Supreme Court overruled the constitutional right to abortion in June. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
They Call It ‘Tranq’ — And It’s Making Street Drugs Even More Dangerous
Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, has made it into the illegal drug supply of opioids and cocaine. It is changing the way outreach workers treat overdoses and may be responsible for grisly injuries and infections among people who unknowingly inject it.
The July launch of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline was celebrated by many mental health providers and advocates, but it triggered concerns, too, from people who say using the service could lead to increased law enforcement involvement or forced hospitalization.
EPA Action Boosts Grassroots Momentum to Reduce Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
Experts say the EPA’s recent declaration that some PFAS chemicals are unsafe at detectable levels in drinking water signals acceleration in efforts to curb exposure to compounds found in nearly every American’s blood.
California Gov. Newsom Pins Political Rise on Abortion, Guns, and Health Care
As California Gov. Gavin Newsom claims the role as the national Democratic Party’s political attack dog, he is trolling red-state governors over their positions on guns and abortion. He’s also making a case for himself — with health care front and center.
Laboratorios de análisis de aguas residuales para covid se suman a la caza de la viruela del simio
Las mismas técnicas de vigilancia de aguas residuales para detectar brotes de covid-19 se están adaptando para monitorear la alarmante propagación de la viruela del simio.
Covid Sewage Surveillance Labs Join the Hunt for Monkeypox
Wastewater testing has proved a reliable early alarm bell for covid outbreaks. U.S. researchers are now adapting the approach to track the explosive spread of monkeypox.
After ‘a Lot of Doors Shut in Our Face,’ Crusading Couple Celebrate Passage of Burn Pit Bill
Le Roy and Rosie Torres founded the Burn Pits 360 group that advocated for years for Congress to help veterans suffering from injuries caused by the massive disposal sites on overseas bases. Le Roy came home from Iraq suffering from breathing problems.
Exploitative practices in medical research have contributed to the underrepresentation of Native people in clinical trials. Episode 10 explores the efforts of Indigenous scientists to rebuild this broken trust through tribally controlled research.
Tribe Embraces Recreational Marijuana Sales on Reservation Where Alcohol Is Banned
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota allows people to buy and use recreational marijuana but not alcohol. Some tribal citizens say cannabis is safer than alcohol, meth, and opioids — which have wreaked havoc on the state’s Indigenous communities.
