Latest KFF Health News Stories
Will ‘Dr. Disinformation’ Ever Face the Music?
Some of the top spreaders of spurious covid-19 and vaccine information are physicians with active medical licenses. Are medical oversight boards ready to step up to stop them?
At an Overrun ICU, ‘the Problem Is We Are Running Out of Hallways’
Billings Clinic in Montana is past the tipping point as it looks for places to add intensive care unit beds and is on the cusp of rationing care to deal with the surge of sick covid patients in a state with significant anti-vaccination sentiment.
Public Health Experts ‘Flabbergasted’ That Biden Still Hasn’t Picked an FDA Chief
The Food and Drug Administration has been mired in controversies related to drug approvals and covid vaccines, all without a permanent leader.
The Solution to Au Pairs’ Health Coverage Gaps May Be Simple: ACA Plans
Private agencies that bring young adults to the U.S. to care for children generally offer basic health insurance, but plans may exclude many types of necessary care. What the agencies might not mention is that au pairs are eligible to enroll in comprehensive coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and likely qualify for premium subsidies that would make the insurance affordable.
California’s Reboot of Troubled Medi-Cal Puts Pressure on Health Plans
The nine commercial insurers in Medi-Cal must reapply by submitting bids for new contracts. The state hopes the process will improve care for low-income residents and tighten accountability, something critics say has been missing.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: They Turned Grief Into Action
This episode highlights how New York enacted a charity care law, one of the precursors to the federal provision on charity care in the Affordable Care Act.
Congress Cites KHN Investigation in Probe of National Academies
The House oversight committee is requesting conflict-of-interest disclosure forms from a National Academies committee studying organ transplants. KHN previously reported on apparent conflicts among members of a committee studying drug waste.
I Got a ‘Mild’ Breakthrough Case. Here’s What I Wish I’d Known.
I was miserable for five days, am fully recovered a month later and have learned even more about what we do and don’t know about covid now.
Ask KHN-PolitiFact: Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough to Face the Delta Variant?
Public health experts increasingly urge people to upgrade to surgical masks, but also maintain that cloth masks still offer protection.
Dentists Chip Away at Uninsured Problem by Offering Patients Membership Plans
The plans are designed for people who don’t get dental coverage through their jobs and can’t afford an individual plan. For about $300 to $400 a year, patients receive certain preventive services at no charge and other procedures at a discount.
Covid-Overwhelmed Hospitals Postpone Cancer Care and Other Treatment
Patients with advanced cancer and heart disease are among those who have had to have surgeries and other treatments delayed and rescheduled as a high number of critically ill, unvaccinated covid patients strain the medical system.
Scientists Examine Kids’ Unique Immune Systems as More Fall Victim to Covid
Doctors are trying to figure out why some kids become much sicker than others and, in rare cases, don’t survive.
Leader of California’s Muscular Obamacare Exchange to Step Down
Peter Lee helped create Covered California, which has been lauded as a national example among the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces, and he fiercely opposed Republican efforts to repeal the federal health reform law.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Much Ado About Drug Prices
Democrats have hit a snag in their effort to compile a $3.5 trillion social-spending bill this fall — moderates are resisting support for Medicare drug price negotiation provisions that would pay for many of the measure’s health benefit improvements. Meanwhile, the new abortion restrictions in Texas have moved the divisive issue back to the political front burner. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interview’s KHN’s Phil Galewitz about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment, about two similar jaw surgeries with very different price tags.
When Covid Deaths Are Dismissed or Stigmatized, Grief Is Mixed With Shame and Anger
After their brother died, two sisters faced a barrage of misinformation, pandemic denialism and blaming questions. Grief experts say that makes covid-19 the newest kind of “disenfranchising death.”
No Papers, No Care: Disabled Migrants Seek Help Through Lawsuit, Activism
A class action lawsuit seeks better care for immigrants with physical disabilities or mental illness who were detained after trying to enter the country. Other disabled immigrants without legal status are also finding it difficult to get care.
How Fauci and the NIH Got Ahead of the FDA and CDC in Backing Boosters
With real-time data streaming in from highly specialized researchers in the U.S. and abroad, NIH scientists became convinced that boosting the covid-19 vaccine was needed to save lives, prompting the president to announce a plan with a Sept. 20 start date. Scientists at the regulatory agencies weren’t yet convinced. A meeting Friday will determine what happens next. Here’s the story from behind the scenes.
Over Half of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers in Pandemic
At least 26 states have passed laws to permanently limit public health powers, a KHN investigation has found, weakening the country’s ability to fight not only the current resurgence of the pandemic but other health crises to come.
Biden Releases a New Plan to Combat Covid, but Experts Say There’s Still a Ways to Go
There’s agreement that the plan includes important action items but also elements that will trigger political opposition.
Census: Insured Population Holds Steady, With a Slight Shift From Private to Public Coverage
The Census Bureau on Tuesday released its 2020 findings regarding Americans’ income, poverty and health insurance coverage.
