Latest News On Children’s Health

Latest California Healthline Stories

Parents Fear Losing Disability Protections as Trump Slashes Civil Rights Office

The Education Department’s civil rights office often intervenes when students face discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or disability and their families can’t resolve complaints locally. Parents fear the effort to gut the federal agency will leave them with nowhere to seek justice.

Lice Pose No Health Threat, Yet Some Parents Push Back on Rules To Allow Affected Kids in Class

Public health officials see lice as a nuisance, not a health threat, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended for years that students with live lice be allowed to remain in class. But as “no-nit” policies have been dropped in favor of “nonexclusion” rules, some school districts have seen parents and teachers push back.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': On Capitol Hill, RFK Defends Firings at CDC

Just days after his firing of the brand-new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a defiant Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. secretary of health and human services, defended that action and others before a sometimes skeptical Senate Finance Committee. Criticism of Kennedy’s increasingly anti-vaccine actions came not just from Democrats on […]

Do Pediatricians Recommend Vaccines To Make a Profit? There’s Not Much Money in It

Four pediatricians said evidence-based science and medicine and a desire to keep kids healthy drive doctors’ childhood vaccination recommendations. And while pediatric practices might make money immunizing privately insured children, most practices likely break even or lose money from providing the shots.

Listen: As Kids Head Back to School, Parents Sort Out Confusion Over Vaccine Access

Confusion over federal immunization policy could have major implications for how families with private insurance and Medicaid pay for routine vaccinations. Some doctors are encouraging parents not to wait and get their children shots as soon as they are eligible.

An Insurer Agreed To Cover Her Surgery. A Politician’s Nudge Got the Bills Paid.

A kindergartner in Missouri needed eye surgery. Her insurer granted approval for her to see a specialist nearby, yet her parents were confused when they still owed more than $13,000. Then her uncle, a former state senator, reached out to a colleague who contacted the hospital and the insurer.

Native Americans Want To Avoid Past Medicaid Enrollment Snafus as Work Requirements Loom

As states prepare to implement changes to Medicaid required by President Donald Trump’s recent tax-and-spending law, tribal leaders say they are concerned Native American enrollees could lose their coverage, despite exemptions made by Congress.