Científicos buscan la causa de una misteriosa inflamación en niños relacionada con covid
Como la mayoría de los niños con covid, Dante y Michael DeMaino no parecían tener síntomas graves. Infectados a mediados de febrero, ambos perdieron los sentidos del gusto y del olfato. Dante, de 9 años, tuvo un día de fiebre baja. Michael, de 13, sintió un “cosquilleo en la garganta”, dijo su madre, Michele DeMaino, […]
California’s Mental Health Crisis: What Went Wrong? And Can We Fix It?
Gov. Gavin Newsom is steering a major transformation of California’s behavioral health care system, with much at stake in the years ahead. On Oct. 6, the Sacramento-based publication Capitol Weekly invited KHN’s Angela Hart to moderate an expert panel tackling the origins of the state’s broken system and potential solutions ahead. The lively discussion featured […]
Hygienists Brace for Pitched Battles With Dentists in Fights Over Practice Laws
This year, the Illinois legislature was considering measures to expand oral health treatment in a state where millions of people live in dental care deserts. But when the Illinois State Dental Society met with key lawmakers virtually for its annual lobbying day in the spring, the proposals to allow dental hygienists to clean the teeth […]
‘An Arm and a Leg’: Hello? We Spend 12 Million Hours a Week on the Phone With Insurers
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen. After Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer got back surgery years ago, he kept a file folder labeled “Blue Shield Troubles.” When Pfeffer got an offer to collaborate with the polling company Gallup, he suggested a study on how much time Americans spend on the phone with their health […]
La pandemia obligó a mi esposa transgénero a pelear con nuestra aseguradora por las hormonas
GUNNISON, Colorado – Durante los últimos ocho años, mi esposa, Ky Hamilton, se ha sometido a una terapia hormonal que reafirma el género. Como mujer transgénero, se inyecta estrógeno líquido Depo-Estradiol en el muslo una vez a la semana. Este medicamento le ha permitido hacer una transición física a ser mujer, y cada vial, que […]
Watch: Going Beyond the Script of ‘Dopesick’ and America’s Real-Life Opioid Crisis
Click here for a transcript of the forum. KHN and policy colleagues at our parent organization KFF teamed up with Hulu for a discussion of America’s opioid crisis, following the Oct. 13 premiere of the online streaming service’s new series “Dopesick.” The discussion explored how the series’ writers worked with journalist Beth Macy, author of […]
What Will It Take to Boost Vaccinations? The Scene From Kentucky’s Back Roads
SMILAX, Ky. — In the end it was the delta variant that drove Rose Mitchell, 89, down the winding mountain road to the Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ to get the shot. Her pastor, Billy Joe Lewis, had told his congregation that, No, ma’am, a covid vaccine would not leave the “mark of the […]
How to Crush Medical Debt: 5 Tips for Using Hospital Charity Care
What if a law passed but no one enforced it? That’s essentially what has happened with one small but helpful rule about hospitals and financial assistance for medical bills. The Affordable Care Act, the health law also known as Obamacare, requires nonprofit hospitals to make financial assistance available to low-income patients and post those policies […]
Cómo hacer desaparecer una deuda médica: 5 consejos para usar la asistencia caritativa del hospital
¿Qué pasa si se aprueba una ley pero nadie la hace cumplir? Eso es básicamente lo que ha ocurrido con una pequeña pero útil normativa sobre los hospitales y la asistencia financiera para cubrir facturas médicas. La Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA), también conocida como Obamacare, requiere que los hospitales sin […]
Insurance Focused on Virtual Visits? The Pros and Cons of a New Twist in Health Plans
At the height of the covid-19 pandemic, people often relied on telemedicine for doctor visits. Now, insurers are betting that some patients liked it enough to embrace new types of health coverage that encourages video visits — or outright insists on them. Priority Health in Michigan, for example, offers coverage requiring online visits first for […]