California Law Aims to Strengthen Access to Mental Health Services
By Bernard J. Wolfson
The law doesn’t take effect until July, but its passage should force insurers to expand their rosters of therapists. Here’s how you can challenge your health plan’s mental health services until then.
Atención primaria directa con un toque de Robin Hood
By Bernard J. Wolfson
St. Luke’s Family Practice es una respuesta local a los problemas sistémicos de la sanidad estadounidense, como el agotamiento de los médicos, la insatisfacción de los pacientes y el hecho de que millones de personas sigan careciendo de asistencia.
Wildfire Smoke Is Here to Stay. Here’s How to Clean the Air Inside Your Home.
By Bernard J. Wolfson
There are many ways to cleanse indoor air of dangerous smoke particles, which are particularly harmful to people with chronic respiratory and cardiac conditions. Some are expensive, but cheap alternatives exist.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Abortion Pill Goes Back to Court
A three-judge appeals court panel heard testimony this week about revoking the FDA’s 22-year-old approval of a key pill used in medication abortion and miscarriage management. The judges all have track records of siding with abortion foes. Meanwhile, as the standoff over raising the federal debt ceiling continues in Washington, a major sticking point is whether to impose work requirements on recipients of Medicaid coverage. Victoria Knight of Axios, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Providence-KP Team Up to Attract Patients in California’s Growing High Desert Region
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Providence, the country’s 10th-biggest hospital chain, says it’s too expensive to upgrade an older hospital, so it will join forces with giant Kaiser Permanente to build a new one.
California abre el Medi-Cal a adultos mayores indocumentados
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Photos by Heidi de Marco
El estado vuelve a ser pionero en su esfuerzo porque todos tengan seguro de salud, más allá de su estatus migratorio.
KHN on the Air This Week
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Effort to Decipher Hospital Prices Yields Key Finding: Don’t Try It at Home
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Your dutiful columnist tried to make use of a federal “transparency” rule to compare the prices of common medical procedures in two California health care systems. It was a futile exercise.
Being Vaccinated Doesn’t Mean You Must Go Maskless. Here’s Why.
By Bernard J. Wolfson
It won’t hurt to remain cautious, even as California reopens for business in response to mass vaccinations and diminishing cases of covid.
Can a Subscription Model Fix Primary Care in the US?
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Medical subscriptions, a $199 million CEO payday and the race to fix primary care in the U.S. One Medical is betting big that a subscription model can fix primary care. But the firm faces competition from CVS, Target and large hospital systems.
