Category: NPR

A new rule expands protection for health care workers who refuse to provide certain care on moral grounds. The rule cites a sudden rise in religious discrimination complaints. What’s fueling the rise?

The government wants consumers to have sticker shock about drug prices. A new rule requires list prices be displayed in TV ads. Patients advocates are not sure it will do much to lower prices.

About once a year for the last decade, a health care provider would file a complaint of conscience through Health and Human Services. Last year, complaints skyrocketed to 343.

A public hospital in Los Angeles gets over 1,000 unidentified patients a year. Most are quickly ID’d, but some require considerable gumshoe work — a task often complicated by medical privacy laws.

Anesthesia revolutionized surgery by vanquishing patients’ pain. But many of the chemicals are greenhouse gases. One Oregon doctor who has done the math says some are much less damaging to the planet.

Behavior and environment are big factors in a surge in obesity. Scientists are busy trying to identify the many genes that play a role in weight gain to develop a predictive obesity test.

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with Hilary Valdez, a nurse who wrote in after our last Bill of the Month story. She tells us about how high medical bills can affect nurses’ relationships with patients.

The average deductible for employer-sponsored health insurance has quadrupled in the last 12 years. A Los Angeles Times investigation finds even insured workers are going without needed medical care.

NPR’s Audie Cornish talks with Mary Ziegler, law professor at Florida State University, about a new federal rule that protects religious health care workers from performing abortion-related services.

The rule strengthens protections for health care providers, unwilling to provide services like abortions. Critics say it could put women’s health in danger.