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Independent medical practices keep closing as doctors join behemoth hospital groups or leave the field. Research suggests that鈥檚 bad news for patients. Studies repeatedly conclude that consolidation in the health care industry is driving up costs while showing no clear evidence of improved care.
New policies to prevent unpaid medical bills from harming people鈥檚 credit scores are on the way. But the concessions made by top credit reporting companies may fall short for those with the largest debt 鈥 especially Black Americans in the South.
Penny Wingard, 58, of Charlotte, North Carolina, worries she won鈥檛 ever get out from under her medical debt despite new policies that are supposed to prevent medical debt from harming people鈥檚 credit scores.
Some hospitals notch big profits while patients are pushed into debt by skyrocketing medical prices and high deductibles, a KHN analysis finds.
A federal disability program meant to provide basic income for people unable to work has left many of its recipients homeless. Advocates for the poor say the crisis is growing worse as rents rise and Congress decides whether to make changes to the program that would affect millions of people.
Coming out of the pandemic, many rural hospitals are in even rougher shape than before. So rough that some are now practically being handed to investors for little more than a pledge to keep them open.
The July launch of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline was celebrated by many mental health providers and advocates, but it triggered concerns, too, from people who say using the service could lead to increased law enforcement involvement or forced hospitalization.
Doctors in states where abortion is or could be banned say more patients are seeking permanent sterilization procedures, but some patients are reporting that providers are unwilling to operate on people of childbearing age.
Existing drugs still treat most infections. But that has discouraged investment in new drugs that will be needed when 鈥 not if 鈥攖he old ones fail.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Medical debt is most prevalent in the Southeast, where states have not expanded Medicaid and have few consumer protection laws. Now, North Carolina is considering two bills that could change that, making the state a leader in protecting patients from high medical bills.
People talk about the sacrifices they made when health care forced them into debt.
Researchers say the billions in pandemic funding available for ventilation upgrades in U.S. schools provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to combat covid-19, as well as making air more breathable for students living with allergies, asthma, and chronic wildfire smoke.
People in jail who have serious mental illness and cannot stand trial because of their condition are waiting months, or even more than a year, to get into their state psychiatric hospitals.
Research has long shown that doctors are less likely to respect patients who are overweight or obese 鈥 terms that now apply to nearly three-quarters of adults in the U.S. The Association of American Medical Colleges plans to roll out new diversity, equity, and inclusion standards aimed at teaching doctors, among other things, how to treat patients who are overweight with respect.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse many families up to $9,000 in funeral expenses for loved ones who died of covid-19. But fewer than half of eligible families have applied, while others have run into application problems.
Three years after a government site launched to connect Americans to treatment, finding addiction care is still a struggle.
Georgia may soon join a growing list of states decriminalizing the use of fentanyl testing strips. Bans of the strips 鈥 on the books in about half of states, experts say 鈥 stem from laws criminalizing drug paraphernalia adopted decades ago. But the testing devices are now recommended to help prevent overdose deaths.
Nearly all psychiatric residential treatment centers for children in South Carolina operate as for-profit businesses 鈥 some backed by private equity 鈥 and many prioritize out-of-state kids because it鈥檚 better for the bottom line. The scramble to secure treatment for children and teenagers has become so competitive that South Carolina will spend millions more each year as of April 1 to keep out-of-state patients from flooding the state's treatment facilities.
KHN staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
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