Category: Kaiser Health News

Montana Considers New Wave of Legislation to Loosen Vaccination Rules

Bills being considered by Montana lawmakers would allow people to refuse routine vaccinations based on their conscience, along with setting new rules for schools, courts, and businesses.

Black Patients Dress Up and Modify Speech to Reduce Bias, California Survey Shows

Many Black patients also try to be informed and minimize questions to put providers at ease. “The system looks at us differently,” says the founder of the African American Wellness Project.

Seniors With Anxiety Frequently Don’t Get Help. Here’s Why.

Older people often aren’t being screened for anxiety disorders, even though it is a common affliction — one masked by other problems when growing old.

Why Does Insulin Cost So Much? Big Pharma Isn’t the Only Player Driving Prices

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.

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.