Latest KFF Health News Stories
Miracle Machine Makes Heroic Rescues — And Leaves Patients In Limbo
The use of ECMO, the most aggressive form of life support in modern medicine, has skyrocketed — but along with miraculous rescues, it can leave patients in limbo, kept alive with machines but with no prospect of survival outside the ICU.
Texas Is Latest State To Attack Surprise Medical Bills
A new state law says hospitals and insurers will have to work it out among themselves when they can’t agree on a price — instead of sending huge bills to patients. “Bill of the Month” patient Drew Calver galvanized attention on the issue after he told his story to KHN, NPR and “CBS This Morning.”
Democratic Voters Want To Hear Candidates’ Views On Health, But Priorities Vary
Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents said it is very important for candidates to discuss health issues. But they are sharply divided among the goals of lowering costs, increasing access, protecting the Affordable Care Act or moving to a “Medicare for All” plan, a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation reported.
A Year After Spinal Surgery, A $94,031 Bill Feels Like A Back-Breaker
A service called neuromonitoring can cut the risk of nerve damage during delicate surgery. But some patients are receiving unexpected and large bills for the service.
Federal Grants ‘A Lifesaver’ In Opioid Fight, But States Still Struggle To Curb Meth
The federal government has doled out at least $2.4 billion in state grants since 2017 to address the opioid epidemic, which killed 47,600 people in the U.S. that year alone. But local officials note that drug abuse problems seldom involve only one substance.
In Combating Surprise Bills, Lawmakers Miss Sky-High Air Ambulance Costs
The median cost of an air ambulance bill is more than $36,000 and seldom covered by insurance, sparking many consumer complaints. Yet none of the proposals introduced or circulating in Congress to fix surprise medical bills address these services.
A Proposal To Make It Harder For Kids To Skip Vaccines Gives Powerful Voices Pause
California lawmakers are debating whether to tighten the rules on childhood vaccinations and give the ultimate say to state public health officials. But questions are emerging from unexpected quarters: the state medical board and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
KHN’s ‘What The Health’: Who Will Pay To Fix Problem Of Surprise Medical Bills?
Lawmakers and patients want to eliminate “surprise” out-of-network medical bills. Hospitals, doctors and insurers say they want to eliminate them, too, but their opposition to one another’s proposals could complicate legislative efforts. Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus the latest in news about reproductive health and health care sharing ministries.
Why So Many Older Americans Rate Their Health As Good Or Even Excellent
As people advance in age, the expectations for what constitutes good health change. People focus on positive emotions and satisfaction with life, while physical ailments play a less important role.
Drug Users Armed With Naloxone Double As Medics On Streets Of San Francisco
The widespread availability of naloxone, which reverses overdoses, has radically changed the culture of opioid use on the streets, giving drug users a sense of security and inducing them to seek out the more powerful high of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Never Say ‘Die’: Why So Many Doctors Won’t Break Bad News
It’s never easy to tell a patient about a terminal illness, but a longtime doctor whose own diagnosis was botched says physicians must do better.
Trump Administration Rule Would Undo Health Care Protections For LGBTQ Patients
Supporters of the rule say it would strengthen health care professionals’ freedom of conscience, but opponents say it “empowers bad actors to be bad actors.”
‘An Arm And A Leg’: Forget The Shakedown. To Get Paid, Hospitals Get Creative.
An unexpected hospital bill can bust the family budget. That leaves lots of people with bills they can’t pay. Turns out, that’s a crisis for hospitals too, and some are getting creative about collecting debt.
FDA Overlooked Red Flags In Drugmaker’s Testing of New Depression Medicine
In March, a chemical cousin of the anesthetic and club drug ketamine was approved for the treatment of patients with intractable depression. But critics say studies presented to the FDA provided at best modest evidence it worked and did not include information about the safety of the drug, Spravato, for long-term use.
Why Your Perception Of ‘Old’ Changes As You Age
Boomers are aging reluctantly but, for the most part, gracefully. Many even have found the secret to shaving a decade or more off their physical age.
How Measles Detectives Work To Contain An Outbreak
Across the nation, public health departments are redirecting scarce resources to try to control the spread of measles. Their success relies on shoe-leather detective work that is one of the great untold costs of the measles resurgence.
Mini-Biographies Help Clinicians Connect With Patients
Some Veterans Affairs hospitals around the country use writers to record patients’ life stories, then place a short biography in each vet’s medical record. The My Life, My Story program gives clinicians another way to get to know their patients.
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.
FAQ: How Does New Trump Fetal Tissue Policy Impact Medical Research?
The scientific use of tissue from aborted fetuses has frequently been a hot point of contention between anti-abortion forces and researchers. It heats up again as federal officials announced this week they were ending NIH research using the tissue.
Legal Promise Of Equal Mental Health Treatment Often Falls Short
The Affordable Care Act and other federal laws sought to put mental health care on an equal footing with physical health. But patients are still finding that’s not the case.
