Latest California Healthline Stories
Médicos son reacios a preguntar el estatus migratorio de pacientes, a pesar de nueva ley de Florida
Médicos, enfermeras y expertos en política sanitaria afirman que la ley ataca a personas marginadas que ya tienen dificultades para navegar el sistema de salud y que les disuadirá aún más de buscar ayuda médica.
Funyuns and Flu Shots? Gas Station Company Ventures Into Urgent Care
A Tulsa-based gas station chain is using its knowledge of how to serve customers and locate shops in easy-to-find spots to enter the urgent care industry, which has doubled in size over the past decade. Experts question how the explosion of convenient clinics will affect care costs and wait times.
North Carolina Hospitals Have Sued Thousands of Their Patients, a New Report Finds
An analysis of court records by the state treasurer and Duke researchers finds Atrium Health, originally a public hospital system, accounted for almost a third of the legal actions against North Carolina patients over roughly five years.
Feds Say Hospitals That Redistribute Medicaid Money Violate Law
Federal officials are trying to clamp down on private arrangements among some hospitals to pay themselves back for the Medicaid taxes they’ve paid. State health officials and the influential hospital industry argue that regulators have no jurisdiction over the agreements.
Parents See Own Health Spiral as Their Kids’ Mental Illnesses Worsen
The day-to-day struggles that parents of kids with mental health conditions must navigate have led to their own crisis: The stress can take a physical toll that disrupts parents’ ability to provide care, say psychologists, researchers, and advocates for families.
Patients in California County May See Refunds, Debt Relief From Charity Care Settlement
As hospitals are criticized for skimping on financial assistance, Santa Clara County has agreed to notify 43,000 former patients of possible billing reductions as part of a settlement. Some patients had sued, alleging the county’s hospital system sent them to collections for bills they shouldn’t have received.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': On Abortion Rights, Ohio Is the New Kansas
Nearly a year to the day after Kansas voters surprised the nation by defeating an anti-abortion ballot question, Ohio voters defeated a similar, if cagier, effort to limit access in that state. This week, they rejected an effort to raise the threshold for approval of future ballot measures from a simple majority, which would have made it harder to protect abortion access with yet another ballot question come November. Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance has dropped to an all-time low, though few noticed. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, about how the “Medicaid unwinding” is going, as millions have their eligibility for coverage rechecked.
Voters Rejected an Anti-Abortion Measure. State GOP Lawmakers Passed a Similar Bill Anyway.
The new Montana law contains a couple of significant differences from the measure voters rebuffed last fall.
Promising Better, Cheaper Care, Kaiser Permanente’s National Expansion Faces Wide Skepticism
Kaiser Permanente, the California-based health care giant, is looking to dramatically expand its national presence. It’s committed $5 billion to a new unit called Risant Health and has agreed to acquire Pennsylvania-based Geisinger, but skeptics wonder how it will export its unique model to other states.
What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt
Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, California Healthline is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.