Big Pharma may be moving on from squeezing diabetes patients on insulin prices, but it’s the arbitrators that jack up prices for those who can least afford them.
Category: Kaiser Health News
Medicaid Health Plans Try to Protect Members — And Profits — During Unwinding
States are turning to the big health insurance companies to keep Medicaid enrollees insured once pandemic protections end in April. The insurers’ motive: profits.
Jimmy Carter Took on the Awful Guinea Worm When No One Else Would — And Triumphed
The effort to end Guinea worm disease relies almost entirely on changes in people’s behavior. There is no cure, no vaccination. When the 39th president of the United States left office, Jimmy Carter campaigned to eradicate the disease.
Girls in Texas Could Get Birth Control at Federal Clinics, Until a Christian Father Objected
AMARILLO, Texas — On the vast Texas Panhandle, raked by wind and relentless sun, women might drive for hours to reach Haven Health, a clinic in Amarillo. One of more than 3,200 federal family-planning clinics nationwide, Haven serves both English and Spanish speakers, providing contraception, testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and cervical cancer […]
California Offers Bipartisan Road Map for Protecting Kids Online Even as Big Tech Fights Back
Last year, state lawmakers adopted the country’s toughest online privacy restrictions. The law offers Congress a path forward on federal protections even as it serves as a cautionary tale for taking on Big Tech.
Reentry Programs to Help Former Prisoners Obtain Health Care Are Often Underused
More than 600,000 people are released from prisons every year, many with costly health conditions but no medications, medical records, a health care provider, or insurance.
Biden Administration Urged to Take More Aggressive Steps to Relieve Medical Debt
Consumer and patient advocates push for new federal rules to protect Americans from debt collectors and force hospitals to make financial assistance more accessible.
Covid Aid Papered Over Colorado Hospital’s Financial Shortcomings
Financial pitfalls at the nation’s highest-elevation hospital serve as a cautionary tale as rural hospitals emerge from the pandemic on shaky ground.
For Young People on Medicare, a Hysterectomy Sometimes Is More Affordable Than Birth Control
While Medicare was designed as health insurance for those 65 and older, it also covers people with disabilities who are young enough to still get pregnant. Yet they often struggle to get their birth control covered and end up with large medical bills — or instead opt for hysterectomies or tubal ligations, which Medicare sometimes will cover.
Watch: Walgreens Stops Sale of Abortion Pill in 21 States Under GOP Threat of Legal Action
The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain will stop dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone under pressure from Republican attorneys general.
