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Southern California correspondent Bernard J. Wolfson answers questions about the health coverage deals available on California鈥檚 Affordable Care Act marketplace during Radio Biling眉e鈥檚 news program 鈥淟铆nea Abierta.鈥
Temporary subsidies helped boost enrollment under the Affordable Care Act to a record 14.5 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. But unless Democrats in Congress extend those subsidies, many of those new enrollees will be in for a rude surprise just ahead of midterm elections. Meanwhile, the need to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer further crowds an already tight legislative schedule. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Diana Greene Foster, author of 鈥淭he Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having 鈥 Or Being Denied 鈥 An Abortion.鈥
Georgia lawmakers unveiled a mental health bill that would limit the profits of the managed-care companies that serve Medicaid patients. KHN previously reported that Georgia, unlike most states, does not set a medical loss ratio for the companies鈥 spending on medical care and quality improvements.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Mass General Brigham鈥檚 $2.3 billion expansion plan is raising state officials鈥 concerns that it will reduce competition and raise the price of care in Massachusetts. It also signals a national shift from a focus on hospital mergers and purchases of physician practices 鈥 which boost the cost of care 鈥 to individual hospitals鈥 expansions to gain a bigger share of the market.
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal weighs in on the January installment of KHN-NPR’s Bill of the Month, in which a family gets burned over a visit to the emergency room.
The health agency and the White House acted in the wake of a KHN story about pharmacists refusing to give shots to patients with moderate to severe immune suppression.
About a quarter of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Despite the large number of workers affected, no national laws protect them when they need time off to deal with the loss.
The new federal law will provide protection against surprise medical bills for between 6 million and 7 million Californians who are not covered under state law.
A KHN reporter had written for years about the people left behind by the absurdly complex and expensive U.S. health care system. Then he found himself navigating that maze as he tried to get his insulin prescription filled.
Missouri has the worst covid-19 vaccination rate for nursing home health care workers in the nation. There, the federal mandate for workers to get vaccinated 鈥 upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court 鈥 reveals the problems that operators have hiring staff, keeping them, and providing decent care.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly changed its guidance to allow an extra shot in certain cases, but some pharmacy personnel are confused about who is eligible.
A St. Louis-area toddler burned his hand on the stove, and his mom took him to the ER on the advice of her pediatrician. He wasn鈥檛 seen by a doctor, and the dressing on the wound wasn鈥檛 changed. The bill was more than a thousand dollars.
The laws governing Medicare don鈥檛 provide coverage for self-administered diagnostic tests, which is precisely what the rapid antigen tests are and why they are an important tool for containing the pandemic.
Anti-vaccination activists say California鈥檚 Democratic lawmakers are helping strengthen their movement nationally by pushing for tougher vaccine requirements 鈥 without exemptions for religious or personal beliefs. But a new pro-vaccine lobbying force is vowing to fight back.
Without a federal law governing private, for-profit residential programs for children with behavioral problems, regulation has been left to the states. But even in states that have sought to increase oversight, deaths and controversial tactics such as seclusion still happen.
Public opinion remains bitterly divided on the issue as a Supreme Court decision is imminent that could overturn or dramatically undercut Roe v. Wade.
The top 12 states using antibody therapies produced by Regeneron and Lilly 鈥 which research shows don鈥檛 work against the omicron variant 鈥 include several Southern states with some of the nation鈥檚 lowest vaccination rates, but also California, which ranks among the top 20 for fully vaccinated residents.
Two rapid-testing initiatives the Biden administration released in the past week are inaccessible to some residents of multifamily housing, people who don鈥檛 speak English well, or those without internet access.
Jan. 22 marks the 49th 鈥 and very likely last 鈥 anniversary of the Supreme Court鈥檚 landmark abortion decision, Roe v. Wade. The court鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.
