Latest California Healthline Stories
Must Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don’t have to.
No More Secrets: Congress Bans Pharmacist ‘Gag Orders’ On Drug Prices
Congress approved two bills last month that prohibit provisions keeping pharmacists from telling patients when they can save money by paying the cash price instead of the price negotiated by their insurance plan.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don’t have to.
Feds Settle Huge Whistleblower Suit Over Medicare Advantage Fraud
A DaVita subsidiary will pay $270 million over allegations that it cheated the federal government for years.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ (Almost) Live from Austin!
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Alice Ollstein of Politico talk about how health issues will play in midterm elections, the Trump administration’s move that could penalize legal immigrants who use government aid programs, and other topics. Due to technical difficulties, the original discussion taped Sept. 27 at the 2018 Texas Tribune Festival could not be broadcast, so the panelists reconvened from Austin and Washington on Sept. 28.
Medicare Eases Readmission Penalties Against Safety-Net Hospitals
In California, Medicare penalized about three-quarters of the 292 hospitals it evaluated. But many that serve a large share of low-income patients will lose less money than they did in previous years.
Readers And Tweeters Slice And Dice Precision Medicine, Step Therapy
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
New Medicare Advantage Tool To Lower Drug Prices Puts Crimp In Patients’ Choices
Federal officials are allowing the private insurance plans to use “step therapy” for drugs administered by doctors. In step therapy, patients must first use cheaper drugs to see if they work before receiving more expensive options.
Avoidable Sepsis Infections Send Thousands Of Seniors To Gruesome Deaths
No one tracks sepsis cases closely enough to know how often these severe infections turn fatal. But the toll — both human and financial — is enormous, finds an investigation by KHN and the Chicago Tribune.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Ask Us Anything!
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico answer listeners’ questions about health policy and politics.
