Efforts by Republican lawmakers to scale back Medicaid enrollment could undercut an aspect of the program that has widespread bipartisan appeal — covering more children, research published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs suggests. The study focuses on the impact of Medicaid’s “welcome-mat” effect — a term used to describe the spillover benefits kids get […]

Dr. Ruth Berggren (center) and other staff from Charity Hospital in New Orleans were evacuated to Fort Worth, Texas, six days after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in August 2005. (Courtesy of Ruth Berggren) As Dr. Ruth Berggren digests the calamity affecting her new home state of Texas, she admits to some PTSD. In 2005, she […]

Four years ago, when meningitis B, an extremely rare but potentially lethal form of the infection, sickened a small number of college students at Princeton and the University of California-Santa Barbara, there was no vaccine against the disease sold in the U.S. Despite its availability abroad, it had never been licensed in the country due […]

To strengthen your core knowledge of health care policy, it helps to be a regular reader of Kaiser Health News. From over-the-counter hearing aids to advance directives, this pop quiz covers a range of topics. (After clicking start button, scroll down and right to fully view quiz questions.) ( function() { var func = function() […]

Don’t get two when one will do. Instead of getting both a Pap test and an HPV test to screen for cervical cancer, many women should get just one or the other at regular intervals, according to a draft recommendation published this week by a panel of prevention experts. Both tests, which are performed on […]

SOBRE NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL Noticias en español es una sección de KFF Health News que contiene traducciones de artículos de gran interés para la comunidad hispanohablante, y contenido original enfocado en la población hispana que vive en los Estados Unidos. En lugar de hacerse un Pap y una prueba de VPH para detectar el cáncer […]

Jaycee Gray, 18, of Mapleton, Iowa, spent four days in the hospital in July after getting a bloodstream infection in her central line, which she uses to treat her rare blood cancer. Her mother, Angela Cooper, said that learning to clean the central line was “very nerve-wracking.” (Courtesy of Jaycee Gray) Angela Cooper arrived home […]

It does not take a hurricane to put nursing home residents at risk when disaster strikes. Around the country, facilities have been caught unprepared for far more mundane emergencies than the hurricanes that recently struck Florida and Houston, according to an examination of federal inspection records. Those homes rarely face severe reprimands, records show, even […]

Allen Barron scrunches up his tiny face and wails as his mother gently tips him backward onto the lap of Jean Calvo, a pediatric dental resident at the University of California-San Francisco. Allen’s crying may be distressing, but his wide-open mouth allows Calvo to begin the exam. She counts his baby teeth and checks for […]