Category: states

Georgia Eyes New Medicaid Contract. But How Is the State Managing Managed Care?

More than 40 states have turned to managed-care companies to control costs in their Medicaid programs, which cover low-income residents and people with disabilities. As Georgia prepares to open bidding on a new contract, the question looms: Has this model paid off?

It’s Not Just Covid: Recall Candidates Represent Markedly Different Choices on Health Care

Those seeking to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Tuesday’s recall election disagree with him on more than mask and vaccine mandates. The conservative candidates tend to favor free-market solutions over Newsom’s expansion of publicly funded health coverage.

ECMO Life Support Is a Last Resort for Covid, and in Short Supply in South

Many more people could benefit from the lifesaving treatment than are receiving it, which has made for messy triaging as the delta variant surges across the South and in rural communities with low covid vaccination rates.

Even in Red States, Colleges Gravitate to Requiring Vaccines and Masks

As students return to campus, schools across the country are taking steps to enforce public health advice to keep people safe from covid. In deeply conservative South Carolina when elected officials tried to stop that, a professor took on the establishment and won.

Florida Spine Surgeon and Device Company Owner Charged in Kickback Scheme

Dr. Kingsley R. Chin and SpineFrontier were the subject of a recent KHN “Spinal Tap” investigation.

California Set to Spend Billions on Curing Homelessness and Caring for ‘Whole Body’ Politic

California is embarking on a five-year experiment to infuse its health insurance program for low-income people with billions of dollars in nonmedical services spanning housing, food delivery and addiction care. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the goal is to improve care for the program’s sickest and costliest members and save money, but will it work?

Colorado Clinic’s Prescription for Healthier Patients? Lawyers

The Medicaid-funded program operates on the notion that fixing patients’ legal ills is a vital part of their medical care.

The Pandemic Almost Killed Allie. Her Community’s Vaccination Rate Is 45%.

As the delta variant overtakes Mississippi and other undervaccinated parts of the country, one 13-year-old girl’s experience with covid and MIS-C shows a community’s reluctance to embrace public health precautions and continued vulnerability to the pandemic.

Watch: Same Providers, Similar Surgeries, But Different Bills

KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss the latest Bill of the Month installment, in which a man discovered the hard way that health plans can vary from one job to the next, even if the insurer is the same.

Telemedicine Abortions Offer Cheaper Options but May Also Undermine Critical Clinics

A change in FDA rules during the pandemic has let women receive the drugs needed for a medical abortion by mail after a telemedicine appointment. While some abortion rights advocates hail the move, others note that these services, which are often cheaper than going to a clinic, could siphon away patients needed to keep those brick-and-mortar facilities operating.