Category: Kaiser Health News

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Newly Minted Doctors Are Avoiding Abortion Ban States

For the second year in a row, medical school graduates across specialties are shying away from applying for residency training in states with abortion bans or significant restrictions, according to a new study. Meanwhile, Medicare’s trustees report that the program will be able to pay its bills longer than expected — which could discourage Congress from acting to address the program’s long-term financial woes. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions

A new analysis shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.

Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish

The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November.

They Were Shot at the Super Bowl Parade — And Might Have Bullets in Their Bodies Forever

Despite the rise of gun violence in America, few medical guidelines exist on removing bullets from survivors’ bodies. In the second installment of our series “The Injured,” we meet three people shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade who are dealing with the bullets inside them in different ways.

Forget Ringing the Button for the Nurse. Patients Now Stay Connected by Wearing One.

Dozens of hospitals have deployed a device that uses artificial intelligence to monitor patients remotely. One hospital says it reduces nurses’ workloads — but some nurses fear the technology could replace them.

Biden Team’s Tightrope: Reining In Rogue Obamacare Agents Without Slowing Enrollment

Federal regulators face a growing challenge — how to prevent rogue health insurance agents from switching unknowing consumers’ Obamacare coverage without making the enrollment process so cumbersome that enrollment declines.

What’s Keeping the US From Allowing Better Sunscreens?

A decade after Congress told the FDA to expedite the approval of more effective sunscreens, the federal government still has not approved sunscreen ingredients that are safely being used around the world. Meanwhile, skin cancer is the nation’s most common cancer.

Amgen Plows Ahead With Costly, Highly Toxic Cancer Dosing Despite FDA Challenge

The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of its lung cancer drug worked as well as the amount recommended on the product label. It did and with fewer side effects. But Amgen is sticking to the higher dose — which earns it an additional $180,000 a year per patient.

Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, and the Planet?

Puff inhalers can be lifesavers for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but some types release potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. That, in turn, worsens wildfires, contributes to air pollution, and intensifies allergy seasons — which can increase the need for inhalers. Some doctors are helping patients switch to more eco-sensitive inhalers.

Stranded in the ER, Seniors Await Hospital Care and Suffer Avoidable Harm

Many older adults who need hospital care are getting stuck in emergency room limbo — sometimes for more than a day. The long ER waits for seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, lead to a host of additional medical problems.