Category: Insurance

California Leaders Tussle With Health Industry Over Billions of New Dollars for Medi-Cal

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to pull funds earmarked for new investment in Medi-Cal to help plug California’s $45 billion deficit. A state budget passed June 13 by the legislature largely endorsed Newsom’s plan. Voters could settle the matter in an industry-backed initiative that has qualified for the November ballot.

A Tale of Two States: Arizona and Florida Diverge on How To Expand Kids’ Health Insurance

Both Florida and Arizona want to expand eligibility for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, but their approaches to charging low-income families premiums for the coverage showcase the nation’s ideological divide on helping the disadvantaged.

Biden’s on Target About What Repealing ACA Would Mean for Preexisting Condition Protections

A Biden campaign ad highlighting how an Obamacare repeal would affect people with preexisting conditions is mostly true.

Biden Plan to Save Medicare Patients Money on Drugs Risks Empty Shelves, Pharmacists Say

President Joe Biden is campaigning for reelection on his efforts to cut costs for Medicare patients at the pharmacy counter. But independent pharmacists say one strategy makes it unaffordable for them to keep some brand-name medicines in stock.

Biden Plan to Save Medicare Patients Money on Drugs Risks Empty Shelves, Pharmacists Say

President Joe Biden is campaigning for reelection on his efforts to cut costs for Medicare patients at the pharmacy counter. But independent pharmacists say one strategy makes it unaffordable for them to keep some brand-name medicines in stock.

California Becomes Latest State To Try Capping Health Care Spending

California is the ninth state to set annual health spending targets for the industry. Already hospitals and doctors are voicing resistance to the fledgling Office of Health Care Affordability, even as they avoid overtly opposing its goals.

An Arm and a Leg: Medicaid Recipients Struggle To Stay Enrolled

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” the show takes its first look at Medicaid. The program has dropped more than 22 million people since spring 2023, when covid-era protections ended.

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Anti-Abortion Hard-Liners Speak Up

While Republican candidates in many states downplay their opposition to abortion, the most vehement wing of the movement, which helped overturn Roe v. Wade — those who advocate prosecuting patients, outlawing contraception, and banning IVF — are increasingly outspoken. Meanwhile, some state legislatures continue to advance new restrictions, like a proposal moving in Louisiana to include abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol on the list of the most dangerous drugs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins schools of public health and nursing and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Shefali Luthra of The 19th about her new book on abortion in post-Roe America, “Undue Burden.”

He Fell Ill on a Cruise. Before He Boarded the Rescue Boat, They Handed Him the Bill.

A man from Michigan was evacuated from a cruise ship after having seizures. First, he drained his bank account to pay his medical bills.

California Pays Meth Users To Get Sober

California’s Medicaid program is testing a novel approach for people addicted to methamphetamine, cocaine, and other stimulants. For every clean urine test, they can earn money — up to $599 a year.