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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts

KFF Health News Original

A new bill would create a scholarship program for students who agree to work with specialized courts in California to get patients into treatment, but some people argue the state shouldn’t restrict scholarship aid to a new, untested program given broader behavioral health workforce shortages.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': American Health Under Trump — Past, Present, and Future

Podcast

Dreaming of a Trump victory, Republicans have a wish list of health policy changes — including loosening Affordable Care Act regulations to make cheaper coverage available and ending Medicare drug price negotiations. Meanwhile, after a publicly reported death stemming from a state abortion ban, Vice President Kamala Harris is emphasizing the consequences of Trump’s work to overturn Roe v. Wade. Tami Luhby of CNN, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University join KFF Health News senior editor Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more.

Abortion Clinics — And Patients — Are on the Move, as State Laws Keep Shifting

KFF Health News Original

Clinics in states where most abortions are legal, such as Kansas and Illinois, are reporting an influx of inquiries from patients hundreds of miles away — and are expanding in response. Despite the Supreme Court’s overturning of federal protections in 2022, abortions are now at their highest numbers in a decade.

Cyberattacks Plague the Health Industry. Critics Call Feds’ Response Feeble and Fractured.

KFF Health News Original

Health care weathered more ransomware attacks last year than any other sector, and that was before a debilitating February hack of payments manager Change Healthcare. Executives, lawyers, and policymakers are worried the federal government’s response is underpowered, underfunded, and too focused on hospital security.

California Medicaid Ballot Measure Is Popular, Well Funded — And Perilous, Opponents Warn

KFF Health News Original

Proposition 35, which would use revenue from a tax on managed-care plans to raise the pay of health care providers who serve Medi-Cal patients, has united a broad swath of California’s health care, business, and political establishments. But a newly formed, smaller group of opponents says it will do more harm than good.

Historic Numbers of Americans Live by Themselves as They Age

KFF Health News Original

Longer life spans, rising rates of divorce, widowhood, and childlessness, and smaller, far-flung families are fueling a “gray revolution” in older adults’ living arrangements. It can have profound health consequences.

Watch: New Documentary Film Explores a Lynching and a Police Killing 78 Years Apart

KFF Health News Original

The “Silence in Sikeston” documentary film explores how the nation’s first federally investigated lynching and a police killing 78 years apart haunt the same rural Missouri community. The film from KFF Health News and Retro Report explores the lasting impact of such trauma — and what it means to speak out about it.

Silence in Sikeston: Hush, Fix Your Face

Podcast

In Episode 2 of the “Silence in Sikeston” podcast, host Cara Anthony speaks with Sikeston, Missouri, resident Larry McClellon, who grew up being told not to talk about the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. He is determined to break the cycle of silence in his community. Anthony also unearths a secret in her own family and grapples with the possible effects of intergenerational trauma.

Decades of National Suicide Prevention Policies Haven’t Slowed the Deaths

KFF Health News Original

Despite years of national strategies to address the suicide crisis in the U.S., rates continue to rise. A chorus of researchers and experts say the interventions will work — but that they’re simply not being adopted by state and local governments.

Tossed Medicine, Delayed Housing: How Homeless Sweeps Are Thwarting Medicaid’s Goals

KFF Health News Original

As California cities crack down on homeless encampments in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling authorizing fines and arrests, front-line workers say such sweeps are undercutting billions in state and federal Medicaid spending meant to stabilize people’s health and get them off the streets.

No One Wants To Talk About Racial Trauma. Why My Family Broke Our Silence.

KFF Health News Original

Every family has secrets. I spent the past few years reporting about racial violence in Sikeston, Missouri. Interviewing Black families there helped me uncover my family’s traumatic past, too.

The First Year of Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Is Mired in Red Tape

KFF Health News Original

Georgia must decide soon whether to try to extend a limited Medicaid expansion that requires participants to work. Enrollment fell far short of goals in the first year, and the state isn’t yet able to verify participants are working.

‘What Happens Three Months From Now?’ Mental Health After Georgia High School Shooting

KFF Health News Original

The recent shooting at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta caused more than physical wounds. Medical experts worry a lack of mental health resources in the community — and in Georgia as a whole — means few options for those trying to cope with trauma from the shooting.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Trump-Harris Debate Showcases Health Policy Differences

Podcast

As expected, the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris offered few new details of their positions on abortion, the Affordable Care Act, and other critical health issues. But it did underscore for voters dramatic differences between the two candidates. Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued rules attempting to better enforce […]

In Montana, 911 Calls Reveal Impact of Heat Waves on Rural Seniors

KFF Health News Original

State and local governments are struggling to keep up with the increasing burden of heat-related illness as summers get hotter because of climate change. In Missoula County, Montana, officials are working with researchers to understand trends in heat-related 911 calls.