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Latest California Healthline Stories

Medical Debt Sunk Her Credit. New Changes From the Credit Reporting Agencies Won’t Help.

New policies to prevent unpaid medical bills from harming people’s credit scores are on the way. But the concessions made by top credit reporting companies may fall short for those with the largest debt — especially Black Americans in the South.

Listen: Medical Bills Upended Her Life and Her Credit Score

Penny Wingard, 58, of Charlotte, North Carolina, worries she won’t ever get out from under her medical debt despite new policies that are supposed to prevent medical debt from harming people’s credit scores.

Addiction Experts Fear the Fallout if California Legalizes Sports Betting

If California voters approve one or both sports-wagering initiatives on the November ballot, psychiatrists anticipate more cases of problem gambling and gambling addiction. They’re especially concerned about online betting, a very addictive way to play.

$80,000 and 5 ER Visits: Ectopic Pregnancy Takes a Toll Despite NY’s Liberal Abortion Law

If an embryo has implanted in a fallopian tube, ending the pregnancy is imperative to protect the patient’s life. Women’s health advocates have raised concerns that the needed treatment may be hampered by restrictive abortion laws in some states. Yet women seeking treatment in states with more liberal abortion laws may still find the process expensive and harrowing.

Mental Health Crisis Teams Aren’t Just for Cities Anymore

In many cities, social workers and counselors are responding to mental health emergencies that used to be solely handled by police. That approach is spreading to rural areas even though mental health professionals are scarcer and travel distances are longer.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide

Congress has once again decided not to decide how to fund the federal government in time for the start of the fiscal year, racing toward a midnight Sept. 30 deadline to pass a stopgap bill that would keep the lights on for two more months. However, it does appear the FDA’s program that gets drugmakers to help fund some of the agency’s review staff will be renewed in time to stop pink slips from being sent. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews filmmaker Cynthia Lowen, whose new documentary, “Battleground,” explores how anti-abortion forces played the long game to overturn Roe v. Wade.