Latest California Healthline Stories
As Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Hit the Market, Anti-Smoking Groups Press for Wider Standard
The first FDA-authorized cigarettes with 95% less nicotine than traditional smokes will go on sale in California, Florida, and Texas starting in early July. Anti-smoking groups oppose greenlighting just one plant biotech’s products and instead urge federal regulators to set a low-nicotine standard for the entire industry.
Misinformation Obscures Standards Guiding Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth
Many state legislatures have passed or are considering restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Yet much of the discussion is based on misconceptions about what that care entails.
Will the Doctor See You Now? The Health System’s Changing Landscape
The “front door” to the health system is changing, under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations.
The DEA Relaxed Online Prescribing Rules During Covid. Now It Wants to Rein Them In.
Supporters say the proposed rules would balance the goals of increasing access to health care and helping prevent medication misuse. Opponents say the rules would make it difficult for some patients — especially those in rural areas — to get care.
The Hospital Bills Didn’t Find Her, but a Lawsuit Did — Plus Interest
Recovering from emergency gallbladder surgery, a Tennessee woman said she spent months without a permanent mailing address and never got a bill. She was sued by the health system two years later.
New Charleston Museum Nods to Historical Roots of US Health Disparities
The $120 million International African American Museum that opened this week in Charleston, South Carolina, allows visitors to step back in history at Gadsden’s Wharf, where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans arrived in America, the genesis of generations of health disparities.
E-Cigs Are Still Flooding the US, Addicting Teens With Higher Nicotine Doses
The FDA, Justice Department, and White House have failed to act as vapes with kid-friendly flavors like cotton candy or gummy bears proliferate.
‘We’re Not Doing That’: Why a Black Couple Wouldn’t Crowdfund to Pay Medical Debts
Kristie Fields, a cancer patient in Virginia, was urged to go public to seek financial help. She worried about feeding hurtful stereotypes.
Malpractice Lawsuits Over Denied Abortion Care May Be on the Horizon
Physicians and attorneys say it’s a question of when — not if — a pregnant person dies from lack of care in a state with an abortion ban, potentially setting the stage for a malpractice lawsuit that could pressure providers to reconsider delaying or denying care.
What’s It Really Like to Be HHS Secretary? Three Who’ve Done It Spill the Beans
Three secretaries of Health and Human Services, who served under Presidents Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Barack Obama, gathered this week for a rare, candid conversation hosted by the Aspen Ideas Festival and KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” about the experience of being the nation’s top health official.