The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Federal regulators face a growing challenge 鈥 how to prevent rogue health insurance agents from switching unknowing consumers鈥 Obamacare coverage without making the enrollment process so cumbersome that enrollment declines.
Many older adults who need hospital care are getting stuck in emergency room limbo 鈥 sometimes for more than a day. The long ER waits for seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, lead to a host of additional medical problems.
Puff inhalers can be lifesavers for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but some types release potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. That, in turn, worsens wildfires, contributes to air pollution, and intensifies allergy seasons 鈥 which can increase the need for inhalers. Some doctors are helping patients switch to more eco-sensitive inhalers.
麻豆女优 Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Sure, new parents are an anxious lot. But instruction manuals for devices meant to keep the baby safe and healthy are daunting and add to the anxiety. Why are they so confusing?
The legislature is considering taking the first steps to make Covered California plans available to immigrants without permanent legal status. The state has already extended Medi-Cal coverage to low-income immigrants.
Cattle across the country are infected by the H5N1 bird flu. The virus isn鈥檛 spreading among people 鈥 but if it evolves to do that, fears of another pandemic could be realized.
A six-week abortion ban took effect in Florida this week, dramatically restricting access to the procedure not just in the nation鈥檚 third-most-populous state but across the South. Patients from states with even more restrictive bans had been flooding in since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Meanwhile, the CEO of the health behemoth UnitedHealth Group appeared before committees in both the House and Senate, where lawmakers grilled him about the February cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare and how its ramifications are being felt months later. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachana Pradhan of 麻豆女优 Health News join 麻豆女优 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Plus, for 鈥渆xtra credit,鈥 the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
A TikTok user claims to have developed an allergy from DIY gel nails. What gives? An allergist weighed in. Let鈥檚 walk through what happened in this viral video.
Since 2020, the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies have collectively funded millions of dollars in gun-related research, including studies addressing mass shootings.
Families of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities say Gov. Gavin Newsom is reneging on an expected pay increase for care workers. If the delay goes through, it could impede services and invite legal challenges from advocates.
After grave missteps in the covid pandemic, the World Health Organization revisited the science and now confirms that many respiratory viruses are inhaled as airborne particles. The new framework implies that stopping transmission relies on costly measures like ventilation and masking.
Oregon is giving Medicaid patients air conditioners and other equipment to help them cope with soaring heat, smoky skies, and other dangers of climate change. Oregon health officials hope to show other states and the federal government that they can save lives and money.
In this episode of 鈥淎n Arm and a Leg,鈥 host Dan Weissmann explores what the fallout from a cyberattack says about antitrust concerns in health care.
People across the nation claim cancer-causing emissions from local sterilizing plants are making them sick. It鈥檚 an example of environmental racism, say residents of one predominantly Black area in southwest Memphis, Tennessee, where life expectancy is much shorter than county and state averages.
Agreeing to an out-of-network doctor鈥檚 own financial policy 鈥 which generally protects their ability to get paid and may be littered with confusing insurance and legal jargon 鈥 can create a binding contract that leaves a patient owing.
Florida has served as a haven for Southern pregnant women with little or no access to abortions. But the Florida Supreme Court upheld a six-week abortion restriction that begins in May 鈥 so now women across much of the South seeking abortions will have to look farther afield.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long given vets who served in Vietnam disability compensation for illness connected to Agent Orange harm. But those exposed at U.S. bases are still waiting for the same benefits.
