Latest California Healthline Stories
Facing Financial Ruin as Costs Soar for Elder Care
The United States has no coherent system of long-term care, leading many to struggle to stay independent or rely on a patchwork of solutions.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Welcome Back, Congress. Now Get to Work.
Congress returns from its summer recess with a long list of tasks and only a few work days to get them done. On top of the annual spending bills needed to keep the government operating, on the list are bills to renew the global HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, and the community health centers program. Meanwhile, over the recess, the Biden administration released the names of the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program.
Dementia Care Programs Help, If Caregivers Can Find Them
Programs assisting people with dementia — and their caregivers — improve quality of life and care. But millions of unpaid family and friend caregivers may not know where or how to find help.
Listen: Training for Caregivers, Subsidies for Striking Workers, and Contact Tracing via App
California Healthline journalists report on what California is doing to recruit in-home caregivers, how a new law provides health insurance subsidies to workers on strike, and why public health officials are turning to dating apps to track sexually transmitted infections.
To Attract In-Home Caregivers, California Offers Paid Training — And Self-Care
Turnover ails a program that allows low-income people who are older or disabled to age in place. To attract new workers and improve retention, the state is paying caregivers to develop new skills.
A Family Death During the Holidays Prompts Questions and Reflection
The death of a sharp but frail patriarch just days before Thanksgiving casts a shadow on a family’s holiday season.
Assisted Living Facilities Pressed to Address Growing Needs of Older, Sicker Residents
Assisted living was meant to be a home-like setting where older adults could interact with other residents while receiving help with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing. But as the concept has become more popular, residents are now older and sicker than in the past, and a panel of experts is calling for more focus on their medical and mental health needs.
‘Impending Intergenerational Crisis’: People With Disabilities Lack Long-Term Care Plans
Many Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities do not have long-term plans for when family members can no longer care for them. Families, researchers, and advocates worry that has set the stage for a crisis in which people with disabilities could end up living in institutional settings.
Supreme Court to Hear Nursing Home Case That Could Affect Millions
An Indiana man’s family sued a state-owned nursing home for alleged mistreatment. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case could determine the right of many Americans to sue government agencies.
Nursing Homes Are Suing the Friends and Family of Residents to Collect Debts
Debt lawsuits — long a byproduct of America’s medical debt crisis — can ensnare not only patients but also those who help sick and older people be admitted to nursing homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.