The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to inspect all factories, foreign and domestic, that produce drugs for the U.S. market. But a KHN review of thousands of FDA documents 鈥 inspection records, recalls, warning letters and lawsuits 鈥 reveals how drugs that are poorly manufactured or contaminated can reach consumers.
On New Year鈥檚 Day, California joined the majority of U.S. states that require people convicted of drunken driving to install ignition-linked breathalyzers in their vehicles. If the devices detect alcohol above a predetermined level, the cars don鈥檛 start.
The new rule took effect Jan. 1 but, for consumers seeking hospital price information, using it to find answers may be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
The program that provides health care for about half of the U.S. territory鈥檚 population cannot afford to cover the drugs.
From Medicare dental coverage to drug prices to fetal tissue research, the panelists answer listeners鈥 questions. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner.
Managed-care plans, which reap billions in taxpayer dollars to coordinate care for low-income Americans on Medicaid, outsource crucial treatment decisions to subcontractors that aren鈥檛 directly accountable to the government. In California, health officials say one firm improperly withheld or delayed care for hundreds of people.
Medicare and Medicaid are fine, but the food safety component of the Food and Drug Administration and bio-threat surveillance done by the Department of Homeland Security are among the public health functions feeling the pinch.
States that have legalized marijuana are trying to set standards for pot impairment that would help keep the roadways safe. But the science behind it is not clear-cut.
Utah’s Orrin Hatch is leaving the Senate, after 42 years. The Republican led bipartisan efforts to provide health care to more kids and AIDS patients. He also thrived on donations from the drug industry.
California鈥檚 incoming congressional delegation will be the largest in the U.S. House of Representatives to support progressive health care policies such as 鈥淢edicare-for-all.鈥 But the political reality of a Republican Senate and president means that they will need to pursue ideas that 鈥渁ren鈥檛 pie in the sky.鈥
An Arizona couple played by the rules and bought employer-provided health insurance. But after they had a baby this year, their out-of-pocket hospital costs and doctors鈥 bills climbed to more than $12,000 鈥 and medical debt now threatens their new family.
Many patients face lingering pain and disappointment after undergoing knee replacement surgery, which costs an average $31,000. And doctors are increasingly concerned that the procedure is overused and that its benefits have been oversold.
After a 34-year-old woman suffered a stroke in Kansas, doctors there arranged for her to be transferred to a Boston hospital, via an Angel MedFlight Learjet. The woman and her father believed the cost of the medical flight would be covered by her private insurance. Then they got the bill.
Ski buff Sarah Witter will get $6,358.26 back from her hospital and insurer after a careful review of her bill following the KHN-NPR story on her case.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don鈥檛 have to.
Washing poultry or meat before cooking it can do more harm than good 鈥 spreading pathogens that can be killed only in the cooking process. But the practice persists. Here鈥檚 what you need to know this holiday season.
Trump administration efforts to undo Obama-era rules have helped create the buzz around this type of health coverage.
A crowdsourced investigation in which we dissect, investigate and explain medical bills you send us.
The fallout continues from that Texas court decision that ruled Congress鈥 2017 elimination of the tax penalty for failing to have insurance rendered the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Meanwhile, enrollment for 2019 at healthcare.gov was down, but far less than many predicted. KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner, along with panelists Joanne Kenen of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner, discuss this, plus the best, most overhyped and nerdiest stories of 2018. Also, Rovner interviews GOP strategist and pollster Frank Luntz.
Court watchers weren’t shocked when Reed O’Connor, a U.S. district judge in Texas, ruled the Affordable Care Act invalid. Critics say he usually sides with Republicans on ideological cases.
