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Millions were booted from Medicaid. The insurers that run it gained Medicaid revenue anyway.

Private Medicaid health plans lost millions of members in the past year as pandemic protections that prohibited states from dropping anyone from the government program expired.

26 Apr 2024

As bans spread, fluoride in drinking water divides communities across the US

Regina Barrett, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in this small North Carolina city southeast of Charlotte, has not been happy with her tap water for a while.

12 Apr 2024

Rising complaints of unauthorized Obamacare plan-switching and sign-ups trigger concern

Federal and state regulators aren't doing enough to stop the growing problem of rogue health insurance brokers making unauthorized policy switches for Affordable Care Act policyholders, say consumers.

8 Apr 2024

UK government announces ban on disposable vapes

The UK is set to implement a ban on disposable vapes.

29 Jan 2024

New Year's Eve celebrations linked to spike in COVID-19 cases: Small gatherings, not large events, the main culprit

Study investigates the impact of New Year's Eve celebrations on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Belgium, revealing that small-scale social gatherings, rather than large events, significantly contributed to a surge in COVID-19 cases among higher education students.

18 Dec 2023

Biden wants states to ensure Obamacare plans cover enough doctors and hospitals

The Biden administration plans to push states to boost oversight of the number of doctors, hospitals, and other health providers insurers cover in Obamacare plans, under rules proposed in November.

6 Dec 2023

How lawmakers in Texas and Florida undermine covid vaccination efforts

Katherine Wells wants to urge her Lubbock, Texas, community to get vaccinated against covid-19. "That could really save people from severe illness," said Wells, the city's public health director.

13 Nov 2023

E-cigarette flavor restrictions may increase cigarette sales, study finds

The immense popularity of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, among young people has led many policymakers to restrict the sale of flavored varieties.

18 Oct 2023

Doctors and patients try to shame insurers online to reverse prior authorization denials

Sally Nix was furious when her health insurance company refused to pay for the infusions she needs to ease her chronic pain and fatigue.

23 Aug 2023

Seeking Medicare coverage for weight loss drugs, pharma giant courts Black influencers

Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has turned to influential Black Americans in pursuit of what would be a lucrative victory: having Medicare cover a new class of weight loss drugs, including the company's highly sought Wegovy, which can cost patients more than $1,000 a month.

8 Aug 2023

How the Texas trial changed the story of abortion rights in America

During the five decades that followed Roe v. Wade, lawsuit after lawsuit in states across the country chipped away at abortion rights. And again and again, the people who went to court to defend those rights were physicians who often spoke in clinical and abstract terms.

7 Aug 2023

Medi-Cal’s fragmented system can make moving a nightmare

When Lloyd Tennison moved from Walnut Creek to Stockton last year, he assumed his coverage under Medi-Cal, California's safety-net health insurance program, would be transferred seamlessly.

7 Jul 2023

Legal pot is more potent than ever — and still largely unregulated

Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available.

9 May 2023

The confusing fate of the abortion pill

The abortion pill mifepristone is now ground zero in the abortion debate.

13 Apr 2023

Idaho dropped thousands from Medicaid in the pandemic’s first years

During the first two years of the covid-19 pandemic, while the federal government was trying to prevent people on Medicaid from losing health coverage, Idaho dropped nearly 10,000 people from the safety-net program.

1 Mar 2023

Why two states remain holdouts on distracted driving laws

Max Herrick pulled over on the interstate near Harrisonville, Missouri, on a spring night in 2020 to offer antifreeze to a woman whose car had overheated.

6 Feb 2023

Researchers explore mass gatherings and COVID-19 transmission

A recent study examines how mass gatherings in Hong Kong were associated with the local transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

3 Feb 2023

ER doctors call private equity staffing practices illegal and seek to ban them

A group of emergency physicians and consumer advocates in multiple states are pushing for stiffer enforcement of decades-old statutes that prohibit the ownership of medical practices by corporations not owned by licensed doctors.

22 Dec 2022

KHN investigation: The system feds rely on to stop repeat health fraud is broken

The federal system meant to stop health care business owners and executives from repeatedly bilking government health programs fails to do so, a KHN investigation has found.

12 Dec 2022

When malpractice occurs at community health centers, taxpayers pay

Silvia Garcia's 14-year-old son was left permanently disabled and in a wheelchair after a community health center doctor in New Mexico failed to diagnose his appendicitis despite his complaint of severe stomach pain.

28 Nov 2022