Latest California Healthline Stories
When Temps Rise, So Do Medical Risks. Should Doctors and Nurses Talk More About Heat?
The medical dangers of heat are real. But people often ignore public heat alerts or don’t realize how vulnerable they are. A new alert system prompts clinicians to talk about heat with patients.
She Paid Her Husband’s Hospital Bill. A Year After His Death, They Wanted More Money.
A widow encountered a perplexing reality in medical billing: Providers can come after patients to collect well after a bill has been paid.
More Cities Address ‘Shade Deserts’ as Extreme Heat Triggers Health Issues
Where trees are growing — and who has access to their shade — affects health and well-being, especially in one of the hottest states in the country.
Californians Headed to HBCUs in the South Prepare for College Under Abortion Bans
As high school graduates prepare to leave states like California that protect abortion rights for historically Black colleges in states where abortion is banned, they’re getting ready to safeguard their reproductive health during college.
A Nanoengineer Teamed Up With Rihanna’s Tattoo Artist to Make Smarter Ink
Tattoos are more popular than ever. About a third of Americans have at least one. A scientist-entrepreneur, together with a celebrity tattoo artist, believes that ink could be doing a lot more.
California Offers Lifeline to 17 Hospitals, Including up to $52 Million for Madera
California’s new lending program for distressed hospitals will provide Madera Community Hospital with interest-free loans of up to $52 million if it can agree on a viable reopening plan with Adventist Health. The state will offer an additional $240.5 million in interest-free loans to 16 other troubled hospitals.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A Not-So-Health-y GOP Debate
The first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 cycle took place without front-runner Donald Trump — and with hardly a mention of health issues save for abortion. Meanwhile, in Florida, patients dropped from the Medicaid program are suing the state for not giving them enough notice or a way to contest their being dropped from the program. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
Dangers and Deaths Around Black Pregnancies Seen as a ‘Completely Preventable’ Health Crisis
Studies show that high rates of Black fetal and infant deaths are largely preventable — and part of systemic failures that contribute to disproportionately high Black maternal mortality rates.
The Painful Pandemic Lessons Mandy Cohen Carries to the CDC
Mandy Cohen, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earned praise for her leadership and communication as the face of North Carolina’s response to covid-19. People in the state’s most vulnerable communities tell a more complicated story.
Doctors and Patients Try to Shame Insurers Online to Reverse Prior Authorization Denials
Prior authorization is a common tool used by health insurers for many tests, procedures, and prescriptions. Frustrated by the process, patients and doctors have turned to social media to publicly shame insurance companies and elevate their denials for further review.