Daily Edition for Friday, June 2, 2023
Health worker wages, homeless kids, the debt bill, transgender health, urgent care, weight-loss drugs, and more are in the news.
The Gun Violence Epidemic Is ‘Locking Us Back in Our Room’
By Owen Racer
As the leading cause of death for teens, firearm injuries are detrimental to more than just physical health. It takes a major toll on young people’s mental health.
How to Negotiate With Resistant Aging Parents? Borrow These Tips From the Business World
By Judith Graham
Negotiation techniques can help health care providers and family caregivers find common ground with older adults who resist advice or support.
The Debt Ceiling Deal Takes a Bite Out of Health Programs. It Could Have Been Much Worse.
By Julie Rovner
A bipartisan deal to raise the government’s borrowing limit dashed Republican hopes for new Medicaid work requirements and other health spending cuts. Democrats secured the compromise by making relatively modest concessions, including ordering the return of unspent covid funds and limiting other health spending.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Our 300th Episode!
When KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” podcast launched in 2017, Republicans in Washington were engaged in an (ultimately unsuccessful) campaign to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. The next six years would see a pandemic, increasingly unaffordable care, and a health care workforce experiencing unprecedented burnout. In the podcast’s 300th episode, host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner explores the past and possible future of the U.S. health care system with three prominent “big thinkers” in health policy: Ezekiel Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania, Jeff Goldsmith of Health Futures, and Farzad Mostashari of Aledade.
Watch: Payback for the Opioid Crisis: How Did the Sackler Family Skirt Liability?
KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani appeared on PBS NewsHour to discuss the ruling surrounding drugmaker Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis and her reporting into the ongoing distribution of opioid settlement funds.
Daily Edition for Thursday, June 1, 2023
Overdoses, the debt bill, Medi-Cal renewals, homelessness, Medicare drug coverage, water quality, RSV, and more are in the news.
More States OK Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Beyond Two Months
By Matt Volz
Montana, Alaska, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming are among the latest states moving to provide health coverage for up to a year after pregnancy through the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people.
As Medicaid Purge Begins, ‘Staggering Numbers’ of Americans Lose Coverage
By Hannah Recht
In what’s known as the Medicaid “unwinding,” states are combing through rolls to decide who stays and who goes. But the overwhelming majority of people who have lost coverage so far were dropped because of technicalities, not because officials determined they are no longer eligible.
California Confronts the Threat of ‘Tranq’ as Overdose Crisis Rages
By Brian Rinker
California officials are stepping up efforts to combat the spread of xylazine, a powerful animal sedative that’s increasingly being used by people, often with devastating results. It’s mostly been an East Coast phenomenon, but ‘tranq,’ as it is known, is beginning to appear in the Golden State.
