Latest California Healthline Stories
Rural Hospitals Built During Baby Boom Now Face Baby Bust
Fewer than half of rural U.S. hospitals offer labor and delivery services. In some areas, births have dropped by three-quarters since the baby boom’s peak.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': GOP Platform Muddies Abortion Waters
As Donald Trump prepares to be formally nominated as the GOP’s candidate for president next week, the platform he will run on is taking shape. And in line with Trump’s approach, it aims to simultaneously satisfy hard-core abortion opponents and reassure more moderate swing voters. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission takes on pharmacy benefits management firms. Shefali Luthra of The 19th News, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, about the Biden administration’s policies to ensure access to reproductive health care.
If Lawsuit Ends Federal Mandates on Birth Control Coverage, States Will Have Say
An ongoing lawsuit aims to set aside the Affordable Care Act’s requirements that insurers cover preventive care, such as contraception. If that happens, state reproductive health laws — varying across the country — would carry more weight, resuming the “wild West” dynamic from before Obamacare.
Abortion and the 2024 Election: A Video Primer
The first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago takes place in November, and abortion is sure to play a key role.
Listen: How the End of ‘Roe’ Is Reshaping the Medical Workforce
In this episode of “The Indicator From Planet Money,” KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, reports on how the medical labor force is changing post-Roe v. Wade and why graduating medical students, from OB-GYNs to pediatricians, are avoiding training in states with abortion bans.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': SCOTUS Term Wraps With a Bang
The Supreme Court has issued its final opinions for the 2023-24 term, including decisions affecting abortion access, the opioid epidemic, and how the federal government functions. In this special episode, Sarah Somers , legal director of the National Health Law Program, joins KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss how the justices disposed of the term’s health-related cases and what those decisions could mean going forward.
Beyond PMS: A Poorly Understood Disorder Means Periods of Despair for Some Women
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is estimated to affect around 5% of people who menstruate, but a lack of research and limited awareness of menstrual disorders — even among health care providers — can make getting care difficult.
Planned Parenthood to Blitz GOP Seats, Betting Abortion Fears Can Sway Voters
The reproductive rights organization hopes to oust GOP incumbents from key California congressional seats by highlighting the possibility of a national abortion ban. A state Republican official calls it a swing and a miss, noting that, under Democrats, hospitals have closed maternity wards and filed for bankruptcy.
Planned Parenthood enfrenta a los republicanos y espera captar el apoyo de los votantes
Esta ofensiva estratégica es parte de un esfuerzo nacional más amplio del grupo de derechos reproductivos, que se propone evitar que una mayoría republicana apruebe restricciones al derecho al aborto, incluida una prohibición nacional.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': SCOTUS Ruling Strips Power From Federal Health Agencies
In what will certainly be remembered as a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has overruled a 40-year-old precedent that gave federal agencies, rather than judges, the power to interpret ambiguous laws passed by Congress. Administrative experts say the decision will dramatically change the way key health agencies do business. Also, the court decided not to decide whether a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care overrides Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.