Latest KFF Health News Stories
Journalists Demystify Bird Flu, Brain Worms, and New Staffing Mandates for Nursing Homes
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay for Threats to Reproductive Rights
Democrats running for office are using abortion rollbacks to galvanize voters, with abortion rights ballot initiatives amplifying their lines of attack. In Missouri, the leading Democratic candidate for the Senate also blames Republican Sen. Josh Hawley for threatening access to IVF.
Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won’t Have Another.
Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Newly Minted Doctors Are Avoiding Abortion Ban States
For the second year in a row, medical school graduates across specialties are shying away from applying for residency training in states with abortion bans or significant restrictions, according to a new study. Meanwhile, Medicare’s trustees report that the program will be able to pay its bills longer than expected — which could discourage Congress from acting to address the program’s long-term financial woes. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions
A new analysis shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.
Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish
The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November.
Biden’s Nursing Home Staffing Rule Surfaces Horror Stories
The Biden administration’s plan to set minimum staffing levels for nursing homes prompted comments from more than 46,500 people and organizations — including residents of homes and nurses with harrowing stories about conditions inside. Hundreds of comments like these cemented the resolve of officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month to […]
Forget Ringing the Button for the Nurse. Patients Now Stay Connected by Wearing One.
Dozens of hospitals have deployed a device that uses artificial intelligence to monitor patients remotely. One hospital says it reduces nurses’ workloads — but some nurses fear the technology could replace them.
Three People Shot at Super Bowl Parade Grapple With Bullets Left in Their Bodies
Despite the rise of gun violence in America, few medical guidelines exist on removing bullets from survivors’ bodies. In the second installment of our series “The Injured,” we meet three people shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade who are dealing with the bullets inside them in different ways.
Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week.
An NIH Genetics Study Targets a Long-Standing Challenge: Diversity
In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced a precision medicine initiative that would later be known as the All of Us program. The research, now well underway at the National Institutes of Health, aims to analyze the DNA of at least 1 million people across the United States to build a diverse health database. The key word there is “diverse.” So […]
Amgen Plows Ahead With Costly, Highly Toxic Cancer Dosing Despite FDA Challenge
The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of its lung cancer drug worked as well as the amount recommended on the product label. It did and with fewer side effects. But Amgen is sticking to the higher dose — which earns it an additional $180,000 a year per patient.
What’s Keeping the US From Allowing Better Sunscreens?
A decade after Congress told the FDA to expedite the approval of more effective sunscreens, the federal government still has not approved sunscreen ingredients that are safely being used around the world. Meanwhile, skin cancer is the nation’s most common cancer.
Biden Team’s Tightrope: Reining In Rogue Obamacare Agents Without Slowing Enrollment
Federal regulators face a growing challenge — how to prevent rogue health insurance agents from switching unknowing consumers’ Obamacare coverage without making the enrollment process so cumbersome that enrollment declines.
Las pruebas han detectado el virus en el ganado en nueve estados, principalmente en Texas y Nuevo México, y más recientemente en Colorado. Una persona ha dado positivo para el H5N1.
Las organizaciones sin fines de lucro señalan que California ha vuelto más difícil retener a los trabajadores en tareas de cuidado después que aumentara los salarios en otros sectores vinculados a los servicios y la salud.
California propone ampliar subsidios de seguros de salud a todos los inmigrantes adultos
California es el primer estado en ampliar Medicaid a todos los adultos que reúnan los requisitos, independientemente de su estatus migratorio, una medida celebrada por los activistas de la salud y por líderes políticos de todo el estado.
Stranded in the ER, Seniors Await Hospital Care and Suffer Avoidable Harm
Many older adults who need hospital care are getting stuck in emergency room limbo — sometimes for more than a day. The long ER waits for seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, lead to a host of additional medical problems.
Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, and the Planet?
Puff inhalers can be lifesavers for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but some types release potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. That, in turn, worsens wildfires, contributes to air pollution, and intensifies allergy seasons — which can increase the need for inhalers. Some doctors are helping patients switch to more eco-sensitive inhalers.
Journalists Delve Into Climate Change, Medicaid ‘Unwinding,’ and the Gap in Mortality Rates
KFF Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.