The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Pasha Wrangell has faced delays getting gender-affirming care because of red tape and limited providers. Over more than two years, Wrangell has received only about half the total electrolysis sessions recommended. Wrangell鈥檚 insurer through Medi-Cal, California鈥檚 Medicaid program, acknowledges the shortage of practitioners.
A union is asking Los Angeles city voters to cap hospital executive pay at the U.S. president鈥檚 salary. However, hospitals accuse the union of using the proposal as political leverage, and policy experts question whether the policy, if enacted, would be workable.
The military first documented health concerns surrounding chemicals known as PFAS decades ago yet has continued to use firefighting foam made with them. Despite scores of lawsuits by its personnel and high rates of testicular cancer among troops, it has been slow to investigate a connection.
Novo Nordisk, the dominant company in the multibillion-dollar market for weight loss drugs, focuses on Black lawmakers and opinion leaders to spread the message that obesity is a chronic disease that needs treatment.
Within two years of North Carolina鈥檚 public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients鈥 payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, 麻豆女优 Health News is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
April Valentine鈥檚 family wants to know whether racism could have played a role in her death. A 麻豆女优 Health News analysis shows state regulators are ill-equipped to find discrimination in its many forms.
Stark, plaintive testimony from women denied abortion care represents the start of 鈥渢he 50-year fight to get rid of Dobbs,鈥 one historian says.
The National Institutes of Health appeared to be digging into health misinformation. But then the federal agency stepped back. It can鈥檛 quite explain why, sometimes even offering contradictory explanations.
With millions of Americans suffering under relentless heat waves this summer, more people are seeking medical attention for heat-related illnesses. As temperatures get more extreme, hospitals, fire departments, and ambulance crews are preparing to treat more patients for heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
麻豆女优 Health News 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.
As drought and climate change threaten water supplies, municipalities around the country are ramping up water reuse efforts. But they have to overcome the 鈥測uk鈥 factor.
Facilities that offer medically managed substance use treatment for patients under 18 are few and far between in the United States. A Denver hospital is trying to help fill the gap.
A new poll reveals enthusiasm for a pricey new generation of weight loss drugs, but interest drops if users potentially have to deal with weekly injections, lack of insurance coverage, or a need to continue the medications indefinitely to avoid regaining weight.
Congress is in recess until after Labor Day, and lawmakers won鈥檛 have much time when they return to get the government funded before the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Republican campaign for president has begun in earnest, and while repealing the Affordable Care Act is no longer the top promise, some candidates have lively ideas about what to do with federal health programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join 麻豆女优 Health News鈥 chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 麻豆女优 Health News鈥 Phil Galewitz, who reported the latest 麻豆女优 Health News-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month,鈥 about how a bill that should never have been sent created headaches for one patient.
Each year, Medicare punishes hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and high rates of infections and patient injuries. Check out which hospitals have been penalized.
Opponents of the wave of state legislation say the measures place health providers鈥 preferences over patients鈥 rights.
Popular e-cigarettes lack packaging that stops kids from consuming the hazardous nicotine inside.
The annual cost of lecanemab treatment quadruples if the expense of brain scans to monitor for bleeds and other associated care is factored in. The full financial toll likely puts it beyond reach for low-income seniors at risk of Alzheimer鈥檚, experts say.
State attorneys general vowed that opioid settlement funds 鈥 unlike the tobacco settlement of the 1990s 鈥 would go toward tackling the underlying crisis. But in Mendocino County, officials have found a way to use some of its share to help fill a budget shortfall 鈥 a throwback to what agreement architects hoped to avoid.
Who gets credit for wiping smallpox from the planet? American men have been widely recognized while the contributions of South Asian public health workers have been less celebrated. Episode 2 of the 鈥淓radicating Smallpox鈥 podcast tells the story of Mahendra Dutta, an Indian public health leader, whose political savvy helped usher in a transformative approach to finding and containing smallpox cases.
