KHN

Jim Weaver has had two major surgeries in the past decade: one to remove cancerous tumors from his bladder and another to clear a blocked artery. Weaver, 70, knew that after he emerged from surgery, he’d want privacy. But...

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s 988 hotline marked its one-year milestone this month. Mental health experts say the three-digit number made help more accessible than before. The hotline was designed with the idea that...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The owner of one of California’s largest chains of pain management clinics has agreed to pay nearly $11.4 million to California, Oregon, and the federal government to settle allegations of Medicare and...

For most of last year, St. Agnes Medical Center, based in Fresno, California, looked like a white knight poised to rescue smaller Madera Community Hospital from financial ruin. Now, with the nonprofit Madera, California,...

Robert Califf, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, doesn’t seem to be having fun on the job. “I would describe this year as hand-to-hand combat. Really, every day,” he said at an academic conference...

Forget “repeal and replace,” an oft-repeated Republican rallying cry against the Affordable Care Act. House Republicans have advanced a package of bills that could reduce health insurance costs for certain businesses...

It has become as familiar a sight in Washington as the cherry blossoms in spring: lobbyists from the nation’s hospitals descending on the Capitol to ask lawmakers to postpone billions in Medicaid funding cuts prescribed by...

Corlee Morris has dieted throughout her adult life. After her weight began climbing in high school, she spent years losing 50 or 100 pounds then gaining it back. Morris, 78, was at her heaviest in her mid-40s, standing 5 feet...

The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s powerful health care industry just notched a historic win: The state is going to give it an $11.1 billion infusion to improve care for millions of low-income Medicaid patients. But the...

GALLUP, N.M. — About a year ago, Valory Wangler, a family medicine doctor, invited a handful of former co-workers to her backyard. During the early months of the covid-19 outbreak, Wangler and her colleagues had worked at a...

For Emily Boller, it was a $5,000 hospital bill for a simple case of pink eye that took four years to pay off. For Mary Curley, it was the threatening collection letters from a lab that arrived more than 2½ years later, just as...

What do kidney and pancreas transplants have to do with airplane regulations? Tucked into the hundreds of pages of legislative language to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration is a provision to change the...

Bridget Narsh’s son, Mason, needed urgent help in January 2020, so she was offered the chance to send him to Central Regional Hospital, a state-run mental health facility in Butner, North Carolina. The teen, who deals with...

Last week, the FDA approved Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive that will be available for sale over the counter in stores as well as online. Reproductive health advocates hailed the groundbreaking approval as a step that...

JASPER, Ala. — Megan Dunn, who has struggled with addiction since her teens, points to the moment her life went “deeply downhill.” After dropping out of high school, she gave birth at age 19 to a son she named...

In the mid-’60s, the national campaign to eradicate smallpox in India was underway, but the virus was still widespread throughout the country. At the time, Dinesh Bhadani was a small boy living in Gaya, a city in the state...

Many people working in global health thought eradicating smallpox was impossible. They were wrong. Season 2 of the Epidemic podcast, “Eradicating Smallpox,” is a journey to South Asia during the last days of variola...

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Empowering PAs The article “Primary Care Disrupted: Will the Doctor...

Millions of people enter later life carrying an extra 10 to 15 pounds, weight they’ve gained after having children, developing joint problems, becoming less active, or making meals the center of their social lives. Should...