Emergency Contraception Marks a New Battle Line in Texas
By Sarah Varney
April 28, 2022
KHN Original
In the shadow of Texas’ austere abortion regulations, grassroots organizers employ stealth tactics to help young women get emergency contraception.
Post-‘Roe,’ Contraceptive Failures Carry Bigger Stakes
By Sarah Varney
November 7, 2022
KHN Original
Science Friday and KHN ran the numbers on birth control failure. Depending on the contraception method, typical-use error rates can add up to hundreds of thousands of unplanned pregnancies each year.
Community Health Centers’ Big Profits Raise Questions About Federal Oversight
By Phil Galewitz Bram Sable-Smith
August 15, 2022
KHN Original
Nonprofit federally funded health centers are a linchpin in the nation’s health care safety net because they treat the medically underserved. The average profit margin is 5%, but some have recorded margins of 20% or more in three of the past four years.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: News You Might Have Missed
April 14, 2022
KHN Original
Congress is in recess, so the slower-than-average news week gives us a chance to catch up on underreported topics, like Medicare’s coverage decision for the controversial Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm and ominous new statistics on drug overdose deaths and sexually transmitted diseases. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
NYC Makes Clear Its Intent to Lead on Abortion Access
By Michelle Andrews
February 28, 2023
KHN Original
Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement this year to provide abortion pills free of charge at four of New York’s sexual health clinics is the city’s latest move on abortion access. Other jurisdictions are also taking steps.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Dealing With Drug Prices
January 13, 2022
KHN Original
Medicare officials tentatively plan to restrict the use of a controversial Alzheimer’s drug to only those patients participating in clinical trials, while the Department of Health and Human Services looks into lowering the monthly Medicare Part B premium. Meanwhile, covid confusion still reigns, as the Biden administration moves, belatedly, to make more masks and tests available. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Hospitals Divert Primary Care Patients to Health Center ‘Look-Alikes’ to Boost Finances
By Phil Galewitz
Photos by Heidi de Marco
September 9, 2022
KHN Original
Medicare and Medicaid pay “look-alike” health centers significantly more than hospitals for treating patients, and converting or creating clinics can help hospitals reduce their expenses.
‘We Ain’t Gonna Get It’: Why Bernie Sanders Says His ‘Medicare for All’ Dream Must Wait
By Arthur Allen
February 8, 2023
KHN Original
As he takes the reins of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, the independent from Vermont and implacable champion of “Medicare for All” maps out his strategy for negotiating with Republicans — and Big Pharma.
Medicare Patients Win the Right to Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage
By Susan Jaffe
January 28, 2022
KHN Original
If federal officials accept a court’s decision, some patients will get a chance to seek refunds for their nursing home and other expenses.
Después de un aborto espontáneo, trabajadoras no tienen ni tiempo libre ni ayuda de las empresas
By Bryce Covert
January 26, 2022
KHN Original
El aborto espontáneo, que se produce en una cuarta parte de los embarazos, es la forma más común de pérdida de un embarazo. Y, sin embargo, no hay leyes nacionales que protejan a las personas cuando necesitan tomarse un tiempo para afrontar la pérdida.
Texas Abortion Law Gets Speedy High-Court Hearing Monday
By Julie Rovner
October 29, 2021
KHN Original
The Supreme Court justices, who accepted the case only 10 days before the arguments will be made, may skirt the issue of abortion and concentrate instead on the legality of the law’s unusual tack to let private citizens enforce it.
‘It’s Becoming Too Expensive to Live’: Anxious Older Adults Try to Cope With Limited Budgets
By Judith Graham
September 7, 2022
KHN Original
Three women explain how life’s surprises can catapult their efforts to carefully manage limited budgets and lead to financial distress.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Roe v. Wade’s (Possibly Last) Anniversary
January 20, 2022
KHN Original
Jan. 22 marks the 49th — and very likely last — anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark abortion decision, Roe v. Wade. The court’s conservative supermajority seems poised to overturn later this year the ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Also this week, the Biden administration turns 1, with much of its domestic and health agenda yet unrealized. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Shefali Luthra of the 19th, and Kimberly Leonard of Insider join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, about what a post-Roe world might look like.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Health Spending? Only Congress Knows
December 15, 2022
KHN Original
Top negotiators in Congress have agreed to a framework for government spending into next year, but there are details to iron out before a vote — such as the scheduled Medicare payment cuts that have providers worried. Also, the Biden administration reopens its program allowing Americans to request free covid-19 home tests, as hopes for pandemic preparedness measures from Congress dim. Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rebecca Adams of KHN join KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey to discuss these topics and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Have a Case of a Covid Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You
By Christina Jewett JoNel Aleccia Rachana Pradhan
February 25, 2021
KHN Original
As experts race to get an approved test for covid variants, officials are severely restricted from sharing information about the cases. That makes it harder to protect others.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide
September 29, 2022
KHN Original
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.
Buy and Bust: After Platinum Health Took Control of Noble Sites, All Hospital Workers Were Fired
By Sarah Jane Tribble
September 22, 2022
KHN Original
Two Missouri towns are without operating hospitals after private equity-backed Noble Health left both facilities mired in debt, lawsuits, and federal investigations. The hospitals’ new operator, Platinum Health, agreed to buy them in April for $2 and laid off the last employees in early September.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden Declares the Pandemic ‘Over’
September 22, 2022
KHN Original
President Joe Biden, in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” declared the covid-19 pandemic “over,” stoking confusion for members of his administration trying to persuade Congress to provide more funding to fight the virus and the public to get the latest boosters. Meanwhile, concerns about a return of medical inflation is helping boost insurance premiums even as private companies race to get their piece of the health pie. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Lauren Weber of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories they think you should read, too.
Diagnosis: Debt
February 21, 2023
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Featured Stories Debt At A Glance Tell Us About Your Medical Debt Have you been forced into debt because of a medical or dental bill? Have you had to make any changes in your life because of such debt? Have you been pursued by debt collectors for a medical bill? We want to hear about […]
Covid ‘Doesn’t Discriminate by Age’: Serious Cases on the Rise in Younger Adults
By Will Stone
May 4, 2021
KHN Original
With older adults vaccinated, doctors say a growing share of their covid patients are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, as more contagious variants circulate among people who remain unvaccinated.
