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Latest California Healthline Stories

Medi-Cal Enrollees: Here’s How to Verify Your Eligibility

California’s safety-net health program has resumed annual eligibility checks after three years, which means beneficiaries will need to provide updated personal information to maintain coverage. Here’s what to watch for.

Lead Contamination Surfaces in Affluent Atlanta Neighborhood

The Environmental Protection Agency recently confirmed high lead levels in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood. The location stands in contrast to many polluted sites investigated by the federal Superfund program — often in former industrial or waste disposal areas where environmental racism has left marginalized groups at risk.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Health Programs Are at Risk as Debt Ceiling Cave-In Looms

A warning from the Treasury Department that the U.S. could default on its debt as soon as June 1 has galvanized lawmakers to intervene. But there is still no obvious way to reconcile Republican demands to slash federal spending with President Joe Biden’s demand to raise the debt ceiling and save the spending fight for a later date. Meanwhile, efforts to pass abortion bans in conservative states are starting to stall as some Republicans rebel against the most severe bans. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Colorado Becomes the First State to Ban So-Called Abortion Pill Reversals

The controversial practice of administering progesterone to people after they have taken the abortion pill mifepristone may be coming to an end in Colorado. Pills have emerged as the latest front in the war over abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

Gun Assault Rates Doubled for Children in 4 Major Cities During the Pandemic, New Data Shows

A study of roughly 2,700 shootings in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia found that racial disparities in gun injuries and deaths widened during the covid-19 pandemic. Researchers looked only at assaults, excluding accidents or incidents of self-harm.

Biden Administration Issues New Warning About Medical Credit Cards

Americans paid an estimated $1 billion in deferred interest on medical debt in just three years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports. The agency warns against medical credit cards, which are often pitched right in doctors’ offices.

El gobierno alerta sobre tarjetas de crédito para pagar facturas médicas

La Oficina de Protección Financiera del Consumidor estimó en su informe que, en solo tres años, de 2018 a 2020, las personas han estado pagando $1,000 millones en intereses diferidos de tarjetas de crédito médicas y otros financiamientos médicos.