The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Californians are facing the third statewide dialysis initiative in five years. The dialysis industry is spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat Proposition 29 and is running ads saying the measure would force clinics to close 鈥 a message that appears to be resonating with patients.
We unmask the winner and runners-up in KHN鈥檚 fourth annual Halloween haiku competition 鈥 plus the original artwork they inspired as a special treat.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
In Nevada, local health officials are assessing the threat of monkeypox, but their response may be hampered by historically limited public health infrastructure worn thin by the covid-19 pandemic.
When Katie Couric announced she had breast cancer, she urged women to get a mammogram 鈥 and, if they have dense breasts, to get supplemental screening by ultrasound. But medical experts point out that ultrasound and other auxiliary screenings haven鈥檛 been proven to do more than regular mammography in reducing mortality.
American Medical Response, the largest U.S. ambulance company, is ending nonemergency transportation for 12 hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties, saying the state doesn鈥檛 pay enough to transport low-income patients. The state is pushing back.
Despite the end of Jim Crow segregation, its legacy lives on in medical debt that disproportionately burdens Black communities.
Abortion isn鈥檛 the only health issue voters will be asked to decide in state ballot questions next month. Proposals about medical debt, Medicaid expansion, and whether health care should be a right are on ballots in various states. Meanwhile, the latest lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act has expanded to cover all preventive care. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Montana has been a national model for how employers could gain control and transparency over medical bills. Upcoming changes to its model have health care price experts wondering whether the state is making improvements or losing focus.
Nearly half of large employers report that increasing numbers of their workers were using mental health services, according to a KFF annual employer survey. Yet almost a third of those employers said their health plan鈥檚 network didn鈥檛 have enough behavioral health care providers for employees to have timely access to the care they need.
Colorado, Florida, and Idaho are the latest states to opt out of a survey that tracks concerning behaviors in high school students. Officials cite low participation and state laws that require parental permission. But some advocates say dwindling state participation is an 鈥渆normous loss鈥 that will make it harder to track signs of poor mental health 鈥 like drug and alcohol misuse and suicidal ideation 鈥 among teens.
Lupron, a drug patented half a century ago, treats advanced prostate cancer. It鈥檚 sold to physicians for $260 in the U.K. and administered at no charge. Why are U.S. hospitals 鈥 which may pay nearly as little for the drug 鈥 charging so much more to administer it?
Investors are putting money into everything from emergency room obstetrics units and dermatology practices to nursing homes and hospice care 鈥 from cradle to grave.
A North Carolina state treasurer鈥檚 report found hospitals give conflicting information about whether they profit from Medicare patients. Experts said the findings are significant because they suggest the federal government has failed to closely watch the billions of dollars in tax breaks that nonprofit hospitals have received.
A medical billing specialist investigated her husband鈥檚 ER bill. Her sleuthing took over a year but knocked thousands of dollars off the hospital鈥檚 charges 鈥 and provides a playbook for other consumers.
California voters will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to explicitly protect abortion rights. But there is disagreement over whether the proposal, Proposition 1, would merely enshrine existing rights or expand them.
The Houma, an Indigenous tribe, has seen much of its Gulf Coast community washed away by rising sea levels and dangerous storms. Its leaders say the tribe鈥檚 lack of federal recognition makes it harder to keep rebuilding.
Public transit is already insufficient in rural areas, leaving residents with few options as they travel greater distances to access health care. But older residents who depend on volunteer drivers to get them to appointments face another challenge: The number of those volunteers is declining.
California Healthline鈥檚 Bernard J. Wolfson went on the air to explain a new California law that will allow people to have their bodies reduced to compost after death, an alternative to the traditional-but-toxic methods of cremation and burial.
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