Latest California Healthline Stories
‘Free’ Screening? Know Your Rights to Get No-Cost Care
Even a decade in, the Affordable Care Act’s recommendations to simply cover preventive screening and care without cost sharing remain confusing and complex.
Widely Used Hospital Gowns Show Signs of Exposing Workers to Infection
Isolation gowns are supposed to protect health care workers from splattered bodily fluids. But new studies suggest that too much liquid seeps through some disposable gowns, creating a risk of infection.
Crowdsourced Data on Overdoses Pinpoints Where to Help
University of Texas researchers are testing a program that would allow harm reduction groups to crowdsource data on fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses statewide. While the data relies on word of mouth, they say, it is more comprehensive than anything that exists now and can be used immediately to prevent overdoses.
How Pfizer Won the Pandemic, Reaping Outsize Profit and Influence
The drugmaker has the best-selling vaccine to prevent covid and the most effective drug to treat it. Its success has overshadowed the government’s covid-fighting strategy.
‘My Body, My Choice’: How Vaccine Foes Co-Opted the Abortion Rallying Cry
Anti-vaccine advocates discovered a catchy, succinct, and potent slogan. Its unlikely source: the abortion rights movement.
How Much Health Insurers Pay for Almost Everything Is About to Go Public
New government rules force health insurers to publicly disclose what they pay for just about every service. That information could help consumers and employers know whether they’re getting a fair deal.
Big Employers Are Offering Abortion Benefits. Will the Information Stay Safe?
Work-based benefits may expand access to abortion for people who live in areas where the service is unavailable, but experts warn that claiming benefits could create a paper trail for law enforcement officials to follow.
How to Get Rid of Medical Debt — Or Avoid It in the First Place
Medical bills can add stress to the already stressful experience of dealing with a medical crisis. And if you can’t pay those bills, they can linger, wreaking havoc on your financial goals and credit. Here’s how to protect yourself.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A World Without ‘Roe’
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade has created far more questions than it has answered about the continued legality and availability of abortion, as both abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion activists scramble to put their marks on policy. Meanwhile, Congress completes work on its gun bill and the FDA takes up the problem of the next covid-19 booster. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Victoria Knight of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Angela Hart, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about two identical eye surgeries with very different price tags.
Montana’s Blackfeet Tribe to Use Dogs to Sniff Out Disease and Contaminants
The Blackfeet Nation is experimenting with a new way to detect chronic wasting disease in animals used by tribal members for food and cultural practices.