The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Americans who had coronavirus symptoms in March and April are getting big hospital bills 鈥 because they were not sick enough to get then-scarce COVID tests. Some insurers say they are trying to correct these bills, but patients may have to put up a fight.
Some are grieving the loss of precious time in late life. Others are adjusting their ideas of what is possible and making the best of it.
People who put off care as COVID-19 surged are easing back into the medical system. Here鈥檚 how to know if it鈥檚 safe.
The coronavirus has forced drug rehabilitation centers to scale back operations or temporarily close, leaving people who have another potentially deadly disease 鈥 addiction 鈥 with fewer opportunities for help.
For three years, staffers at UCLA Health have been quietly fulfilling final wishes for dying patients in the intensive care unit. Amid the isolating forces of the pandemic, their work has become all the more meaningful.
A rule finalized this spring by the Trump administration permits employers and insurers not to apply drug company copayment assistance toward enrollees鈥 deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for any drug.
Skip the numbers. Focus on the mask.
For new medical residents, this has been a year like no other. In part that鈥檚 because getting from here to there 鈥 from medical school to residency training sites 鈥 has been complicated by the coronavirus.
The U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and lacks the resources necessary to confront the worst health crisis in a century. An investigation by The Associated Press and KHN has found that since 2010, spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16% per capita and for local health departments by 18%. At least 38,000 public health jobs have disappeared, leaving a skeletal workforce for what was once viewed as one of the world鈥檚 top public health systems. That has left the nation unprepared to deal with a virus that has sickened at least 2.6 million people and killed more than 126,000.
To assess the state of the public health system in the United States, KHN and The Associated Press analyzed data on government spending and staffing at national, state and local levels. Here’s what data we used and how we did it.
KHN and The Associated Press sought to understand how decades of cuts to public health departments by federal, state and local governments has affected the system meant to protect the nation鈥檚 health. Here are six key takeaways from the KHN-AP investigation.
California is cutting off funding for COVID-19 testing just when counties say they need more resources in rural and disadvantaged areas.
The National Cancer Institute plans to launch a multisite study next year involving roughly 5,000 women to assess whether self-sampling at home for the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer is comparable to screening in a doctor鈥檚 office.
Carmen Quintero had symptoms of COVID-19, couldn鈥檛 get tested and ended up with a huge bill. She also was told to self-isolate and assume she had the coronavirus 鈥 which is hard when you live with elders.
In an investigation last year, KHN detailed the rise and fall of Miami businessman Jorge A. Perez鈥檚 rural hospital empire, which spanned eight states and encompassed half of the rural hospital bankruptcies in 2019.
For Art Ballard, the local gym was like his second home. The 91-year-old former jeweler relied on his near-daily workouts to stay healthy and for social interaction. But when California instituted its stay-at-home order, Ballard鈥檚 physical health suffered. So did his mental health.
As health workers were dying of COVID-19, federal work-safety officials filed just one citation against an employer and rapidly closed complaints about protective gear.
In a decision that surprised both sides of the polarized abortion debate, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that would require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to break down what happened, what comes next and how this case could provide a clue to the one challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court鈥檚 liberals in the 5-4 decision that strikes down a state law requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
At $3.6 billion a year, California spends more on prison health care than other states spend to run their entire prison systems. But despite the spending, and federal court oversight, prisons across California are struggling to contain deadly outbreaks of COVID-19.
