Daily Edition for Monday, July 15, 2024
Heat-related dangers, the summer covid surge, housing issues, doctor pay, dialysis providers, forever chemicals, and more are in the news.
California Health Care Pioneer Goes National, Girds for Partisan Skirmishes
By Samantha Young
Anthony Wright, a champion for Californians’ health care rights, will take the helm of Families USA in Washington, D.C., where he plans to campaign for more affordable and accessible care nationally. He leaves Health Access California, where he helped outlaw surprise medical billing, require companies to report drug price increases, and cap hospital bills for uninsured patients.
Rural Hospitals Built During Baby Boom Now Face Baby Bust
By Tony Leys
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.
Daily Edition for Friday, July 12, 2024
Nursing home staffing, covid vaccines and summer uptick, heat deaths, telehealth, bird flu, homelessness, IVF access, and more are in the news.
States Set Minimum Staffing Levels for Nursing Homes. Residents Suffer When Rules Are Ignored or Waived.
By Jordan Rau
The Biden administration set stringent new federal staffing rules. But for years, nursing homes have failed to meet the toughest standards set by states, including California.
How to Find a Good, Well-Staffed Nursing Home
By Jordan Rau
Here are the telltale signs to look for in nursing homes to avoid, and resources that can point to better places.
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.
Daily Edition for Thursday, July 11, 2024
Rady Children’s Hospital Nurses Vote To Strike: Nurses and technical employees represented by United Nurses of Children’s Hospital voted Tuesday to strike after rejecting a three-year contract that would have increased the average salary by about 22%. Read more in The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Relieving the Growing Burden of Medical Debt
By Molly Castle Work
Medical debt is a growing burden for millions of people around the country, from parents in Illinois to immigrants in Colorado to residents of the “Diabetes Belt” across the South, and it’s now being recognized as a health-care problem. People often forgo care or prescriptions if they have debt, according to a KFF Health News […]
‘A Bottomless Pit’: How Out-of-Pocket TMJ Costs Drive Patients Into Debt
By Brett Kelman and Anna Werner, CBS News
Millions of Americans suffer from temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, disorders. The high cost and poor insurance coverage of TMJ care can bury patients in debt even as the treatments do more harm than good.
