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Latest KFF Health News Stories

KHN-NPR’s ‘Bill of the Month’ at 5: A Treasury of Solutions for Confounding Medical Bills

KFF Health News Original

Readers and listeners shared more than 1,000 personal stories of medical billing problems with KHN-NPR’s “Bill of the Month” investigative series this year, helping us illuminate the financial decisions patients are pressed to make in their most vulnerable moments.

Colorado Considers Changing Its Red Flag Law After Mass Shooting at Nightclub

KFF Health News Original

In El Paso County, where five people were killed in a mass shooting at a nightclub in November, officials have filed relatively few emergency petitions to temporarily remove a person’s guns, with scant approvals.

Survivors of Gangs and Gun Violence, These Women Now Help Others Navigate Grief

KFF Health News Original

As teens, these three women lived amid street gangs around East St Louis, Illinois. Now, as adults, they support the families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. And because of their past, some residents trust them more than they do the police.

Seasonal Cooks’ Secret Sauce: Heaping Nutrition and Cultural Zest

KFF Health News Original

Two “nutrition ambassadors” from Oldways, an organization that makes tradition and pride centerpiece ingredients in food education, invite KHN into their kitchens for a peek at A Taste of African Heritage dishes to accompany holiday celebrations.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Covid Response Coordinator Speaks

KFF Health News Original

In this special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, talks with host Julie Rovner, KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, about where we are in the pandemic and how we should transition out of the public health emergency. This episode was taped on Dec. 20.

‘Caged … For No Fault of Your Own’: Detainees Dread Covid While Awaiting Immigration Hearings

KFF Health News Original

Covid remains a threat for the roughly 30,000 people in the country’s network of immigration facilities. But ICE continues to flout its own pandemic protocols, an extension of the facilities’ poor history of medical care.

ER Doctors Call Private Equity Staffing Practices Illegal and Seek to Ban Them

KFF Health News Original

Doctors, consumer advocates, and some lawmakers are looking forward to a California lawsuit against private equity-backed Envision Healthcare. The case is part of a multistate effort to enforce rules banning corporate ownership of physician practices.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: Getting Insurance to Pay for Oral Surgery Is Like Pulling Teeth

KFF Health News Original

A car crash left a woman in need of oral surgery, but her health insurance wouldn’t cover it. Her ongoing fight shows podcast host Dan Weissmann the weird way insurance treats teeth and reveals a big problem in the Obamacare marketplace.

Centene, Under Siege in America, Moved Into Britain’s National Health Service

KFF Health News Original

A nine-minute public hearing gave the U.S. insurance giant a foothold in Britain’s prized National Health Service. One doctor called it “privatization of NHS by stealth.” And critics worry that business efficiencies will degrade the quality of care.

The Case of the Two Grace Elliotts: A Medical Billing Mystery

KFF Health News Original

A health system charged a woman for a shoulder replacement at a hospital across the country that she had not visited for years. She didn’t receive the care, but she did receive the bill — and the medical records of a stranger.

Her Credit Was Ruined by Medical Debt. She’s Been Turned Away From Doctors, Jobs, and Loans

KFF Health News Original

When Penelope Wingard’s cancer went into remission, she lost her Medicaid coverage in North Carolina. Without insurance, the debts piled up for her follow-up care. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get ahead of it.

A Medical Cost-Sharing Plan Left Pastor With Most Of The Cost

KFF Health News Original

Jeff and Kareen King joined a medical cost-sharing plan advertised as a “refreshing non-insurance approach” to paying for health care. It had a big proviso: Preexisting conditions like Jeff’s heart condition were not fully covered for the first two years. He needed heart surgery after just 16 months.