Latest California Healthline Stories
Listen: California Banks on a Bold Treatment: Pay Drug Users to Stop Using
As the pandemic has raged so has the country’s drug epidemic. California is looking to a controversial solution for certain drug users, but despite its effectiveness, critics have scoffed at the idea calling it unethical or a bribe.
Santa Cruz Health Officials Honored for Persevering in Covid Battle Against Tide of ‘Denialism’
Mimi Hall and Dr. Gail Newel, health director and health officer for Santa Cruz County, California, will receive PEN America’s 2021 PEN/Benenson Courage Award for soldiering forward in their work amid death threats and personal attacks.
What the Stalemate on Capitol Hill Means for Your Drug Prices
Despite big 2020 campaign promises to deliver lower costs on prescription drugs, Democrats have failed to unite around a legislative plan.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Health Agenda Still on Hold
Negotiations continue on Capitol Hill over President Joe Biden’s health agenda — along with a long list of other items. With Republicans on the sidelines, liberal Democrats delayed a House vote on a Senate-passed infrastructure bill to extract moderates’ support for a social-spending bill that includes expansions of benefits for Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s new rules to prevent “surprise” medical bills pleases some health stakeholders and angers others. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Kimberly Leonard of Insider join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews Anna Flagg of the Marshall Project about how a century-old report on medical education contributed to racial inequities that persist today.
Youthful Advisers Help Shape a Mental Health Program for Their Peers
Officials are enthusiastic about the Allcove initiative, modeled on an Australian program. But it will need to show effectiveness and find funding.
Readers and Tweeters Feel Americans’ Pain
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
A Covid Test Costing More Than a Tesla? It Happened in Texas.
A patient from Dallas got a PCR test in a free-standing suburban emergency room. The out-of-network charge: $54,000.
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
The pandemic is devastating rural America, where lower vaccination rates are compounding the already limited medical care.
Death in Dallas: One Family’s Experience in the Medicaid Gap
Efforts to give 2.2 million Americans health insurance hang in the balance as Congress debates a massive spending bill. The so-called Medicaid gap is felt most acutely in Texas, where about half of those who stand to gain coverage live.
As Democrats Bicker Over Massive Spending Plan, Here’s What’s at Stake for Medicaid
More than 2 million low-income adults are uninsured because their states have not accepted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Congressional Democrats want to offer them coverage in the massive spending bill being debated, but competition to get into that package is fierce.