Insight

Latest California Healthline Stories

California May Regulate and Restrict Pharmaceutical Brokers

By Don Thompson

California lawmakers are moving to rein in the pharmaceutical middlemen they say drive up costs and limit consumers’ choices. The bill sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom would require pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed in California and would ban some business practices. Newsom vetoed a previous effort three years ago.

Silence in Sikeston: Racism Can Make You Sick

By Cara Anthony

The “Silence in Sikeston” podcast explores what it means to live with racism and violence, then charts the toll on health — from hives and high blood pressure to struggles with mental health. The deaths of two Black men killed nearly 80 years apart in the same Missouri community anchor a conversation about the public health consequences of systemic bias.

Health Secretary Becerra Touts Extreme Heat Protections. Farmworkers Want More.

By Vanessa G. Sánchez

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has a plan to protect farmworkers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, but farmworkers who pick California grapes say they need more, as climate change brings more extreme weather.

Patients Suffer When Indian Health Service Doesn’t Pay for Outside Care

By Arielle Zionts and Katheryn Houghton

The Indian Health Service has a program that can pay for outside appointments when patients need care not offered at agency-funded sites. Critics say money shortages, complex rules, and administrative fumbles often block access, however.

Public Voices Often Ignored in States’ Opioid Settlement Money Decisions

By Aneri Pattani and Henry Larweh and Ed Mahon, Spotlight PA

In many places, victims of the opioid epidemic are silenced in decision-making about how to use opioid settlement money, a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by KFF Health News and Spotlight PA found.

Her Life Was at Risk. She Needed an Abortion. Insurance Refused To Pay.

By Sarah Varney

Insurance coverage for abortion care in the U.S. is a hodgepodge. Patients often don’t know when or if a procedure or abortion pills are covered, and the proliferation of abortion bans has exacerbated the confusion.

The New Covid Vaccine Is Out. Why You Might Not Want To Rush To Get It.

By Arthur Allen and Eliza Fawcett, Healthbeat and Rebecca Grapevine, Healthbeat

Although public health officials recommend the newly approved covid vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, it may make more sense to wait until closer to the holiday season.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Let the General Election Commence

Abortion and reproductive health issues headlined the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as expected. But what Vice President Kamala Harris has in mind for other health policies as the Democratic nominee remains something of a mystery. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump says he would not use the 19th-century Comstock Act to impose, in effect, a national ban on abortion, which angered his anti-abortion backers. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Tony Leys, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a woman who fought back after being charged for two surgeries despite undergoing only one.