Latest KFF Health News Stories
Hormone Blocker Shocker: Drug Costs 8 Times More When Used For Kids
Two drug implants are nearly identical. The one for children has a list price of $37,300. For adults, the list price is $4,400. One dad fought for his daughter to be able to use the cheaper drug.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Stalked By The Fear That Dementia Is Stalking You
For those worried they have an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, testing is an option. But words to the wise: It’s hardly foolproof and could even backfire by heightening your fear of memory loss.
Trump’s Medicaid Chief Labels Medicaid ‘Mediocre.’ Is It?
This claim ‘wouldn’t pass muster’ in a first-year statistics class.
It’s Not Just Hospitals That Sue Patients Who Can’t Pay
Until very recently, the separate company that runs the emergency department at Nashville General Hospital in Tennessee was continuing to haul patients who couldn’t pay medical bills into court.
Listen: Missouri Efforts Show How Hard It Is To Treat Pain Without Opioids
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber was interviewed by KBIA’s Sebastián Martínez Valdivia to discuss the challenges Missouri faces in managing patients’ pain amid the opioid epidemic.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Labor Pains Of ‘Medicare For All’
Organized labor is divided over whether to support “Medicare for All.” Meanwhile, many of the Democratic presidential candidates seem unable to use the health issue to their advantage. Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists offer their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
In Tornado Alley, Storms Are Even More Dangerous For People With Disabilities
As climate change bears down, a haphazard web of weather safeguards is a particular blow to the disabled. In Oklahoma, no state laws require homeowners or landlords to install storm shelters. If a community wants to open a storm shelter for the public, that’s up to local officials, But there’s no database that Oklahomans can consult showing where public or wheelchair-accessible shelters are located.
Scalpels Out: Democrats Make Slashing Attacks On Health Care Plans
Candidates’ tough health policy talk strayed far from hope for unity.
Obamacare A Disgrace? Biden Highlights Bloomberg’s Negative Remarks About The ACA
There was a time when Bloomberg’s criticism was consistent.
Newsom: To Fix Homelessness, California Must Fix Mental Health
California Gov. Gavin Newsom dedicated nearly all of his State of the State address Wednesday to homelessness. To fix that problem, he said, the state must address another one: mental health care.
Sanders’ Claim That Buttigieg Is ‘Favorite Of The Health Care Industry’ Is Broad And Needs Context
It all comes down to how you define it.
Analysis: Who Profits From Steep Medical Bills? The People Tasked With Fixing Them.
Surprise bills are just the latest weapons in a decades-long war among health care industry players over who gets to keep the fortunes generated each year from patient illness: $3.6 trillion in 2018. The practice is an outrage, yet no one in the health care sector wants to unilaterally make the type of big concessions that would change things.
Five Years Later, HIV-Hit Town Rebounds. But The Nation Is Slow To Heed Lessons.
In February 2015, an unprecedented HIV outbreak fueled by intravenous drug use hit the small city of Austin, Indiana. Under pressure, then-Gov. Mike Pence reluctantly allowed a syringe exchange. Five years later, HIV is undetectable in most of the outbreak patients. Still, the lessons haven’t been learned nationwide. Fewer than a third of the 220 counties deemed by the federal government as vulnerable to similar outbreaks have active syringe-exchange programs.
School Districts Grapple With Quarantines, Face Masks And Fear
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, school districts, especially those with large Chinese student populations, are in uncharted territory as they apply new federal travel rules to their students. Some also are weighing requests from parents that are more about fear than science, such as whether to allow students with no travel history to stay home from school.
Surge In Enrollment As Californians Avoid Penalty, Receive State Aid
Although a new state tax penalty and state financial aid motivated people to sign up for health insurance this year, Covered California is reopening enrollment for those who said they weren’t aware of them.
Ink Rx? Welcome To The Camouflaged World Of Paramedical Tattoos
Doctors specialize in the science of healing, but tattoo artist Eric Catalano specializes in the art of it. The single father of three does up to eight reconstructive medical tattoos for free each “Wellness Wednesday” in his small Illinois shop, drawing in nails on finger amputees, mocking up belly buttons after tummy tucks and fleshing out lips on a woman mauled by a dog.
Facts Vs. Fears: Five Things To Help Weigh Your Coronavirus Risk
As the numbers of coronavirus fatalities and infections rise, the threat posed by the outbreak in China can seem frightening. But public health officials say the risk in the United States is low. Experts discuss some important issues that can help U.S. residents understand how the epidemic is unfolding.
Changing Clocks Is Bad For Your Health, But Which Time To Choose?
State legislatures are considering new bills proposing a permanent time standard instead of the spring-forward and fall-back clock changes. Most people want to stop adjusting clocks, but scientists and politicians are at odds over which time is better for society and our health.
Would ‘Medicare For All’ Cost More Than U.S. Budget? Biden Says So. Math Says No.
Biden’s statement misses the mark because of messy math.
