Category: Kaiser Health News

Children’s Hospitals Again Cry For Help From Voters. But Are They Really Hurting?

California’s 13 children’s hospitals are asking voters in November to approve $1.5 billion in bonds to help them pay for construction and equipment, the third such measure in 14 years. Some health care experts and election analysts believe the repeated financial requests aren’t justified.

Children’s Hospitals Again Cry For Help From Voters. But Are They Really Hurting?

California’s 13 children’s hospitals are asking voters in November to approve $1.5 billion in bonds to help them pay for construction and equipment, the third such measure in 14 years. Some health care experts and election analysts believe the repeated financial requests aren’t justified.

Health Care Tops Guns, Economy As Voters’ Top Issue

Nearly three-quarters of voters say that health care is the most important issue for them, but fewer than half are hearing much from candidates about it, according to a poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

GOP Gubernatorial Candidate John Cox: Limit Government In Health Care

John Cox, California’s Republican candidate for governor, contends that policies on abortion, health insurance and health care access should be guided by the conservative ideals of free market competition and personal responsibility. He hasn’t offered specific policy positions on health care, except that government should largely stay out of it.

Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Baffles Medical Experts While Frightening Parents

Federal health officials are investigating 127 cases of the disease, called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM.

States Act To Safeguard Young Cancer Patients’ Chances To Have Children

Fighting cancer often involves toxic therapies that can cause infertility. In the past couple of years, five states have moved to require that plans pay for services such as egg removal and storage.

Medicare For All? CMS Chief Warns Program Has Enough Problems Already

Seema Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tells private insurance officials that a push by some Democrats to expand Medicare would only increase troubles the program already faces.

Influential Leapfrog Group Jumps In To Rate 5,600 Surgery Centers

In the wake of a KHN/USA Today Network investigation, Leapfrog will check the safety and quality of outpatient centers.

Drugmakers Funnel Millions To Lawmakers; A Few Dozen Get $100,000-Plus

Drugmakers’ contributions to lawmakers have peaked as surging drug prices emerge as a hot-button political issue. In the past decade, Congress has received nearly $79 million from 68 pharma PACs, run by employees of companies that make drugs treating everything from cancer to erectile dysfunction.

Medicare Advantage Riding High As New Insurers Flock To Sell To Seniors

The private health plans that are an alternative to government-run Medicare continue to grow despite the Affordable Care Act’s cuts of billions of dollars in funding.