Category: NPR

How 128,000 Low-Income Kids Lost Health Care In Tennessee Over 2 Years

NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Nashville Tennessean reporter Brett Kelman about why Tennessee’s health insurance programs dropped more than 100,000 low-income children from the rolls over two years.

Direct-To-Consumer Medicine: Quick And Discreet, But What’s Lost?

If you happily order your contact lenses online, why not get drugs for migraines or erectile dysfunction that way, too? Be careful, a medical student warns. Your “simple” self-diagnosis may be wrong.

Express Scripts Takes Steps To Cut Insulin’s Price To Patients

As Congressional lawmakers continue to turn up the heat on drugmakers, insurers and middlemen over the price of many medicines, one player says it will limit patients’ share of the cost of insulin.

Congressional Panel: Consumers Shouldn’t Have To Solve Surprise Medical Bill Problem

Surprise billing is one of the rare public policy issues that are both bipartisan and in need of a federal solution. A hearing on Capitol Hill looked to insurers and providers to help figure it out.

Trump Backs Off Obamacare Replacement After Top GOP Leader Nixes The Idea

The president still promises “a great health care package” — but not until after the next election. His comments come after a phone call with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Hospitals Look To Nursing Homes To Help Stop Drug-Resistant Infections

Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois think that regional cooperation — and a particular soap — could help them all gain the upper hand against deadly superbugs.

China To Close Loophole On Fentanyl After U.S. Calls For Opioid Action

Some manufacturers evaded scrutiny by slightly modifying the molecular structures of substances. Monday’s announcement “puts a wider array of substances under regulation,” a Chinese official says.

Sen. Rick Scott Wants To Drive Down Health Care Costs

GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, charged by President Trump to come up with an Obamacare replacement, tells Steve Inskeep that drug prices are too high. NPR’s Alison Kodjak comments on the discussion.

Republican Strategist Antonia Ferrier Discusses Trump’s Push For New Health Care Law

NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Republican strategist Antonia Ferrier about President Trump’s push for Republicans to come up with a health care law that could replace the Affordable Care Act.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson On Medicaid Work Requirement

NPR’s Rachel Martin talks with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson about a federal judge’s decision this week that blocked his state’s Medicaid work requirement rules.