How Banks and Private Equity Cash In When Patients Can鈥檛 Pay Their Medical Bills
Hospitals strike deals with financing companies, generating profits for lenders, and more debt for patients.
Florida
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How Optimism Can Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap
Low-income residents in states that haven鈥檛 expanded Medicaid are in a tough spot: They don鈥檛 qualify for the subsidies that people with slightly higher incomes get to buy marketplace plans because of a glitch in the federal health law. But a court decision last year makes it easier for them to make good-faith estimates of a pay increase, and there is no financial penalty if they don鈥檛 hit that figure.
By Phil Galewitz and Daniel Chang -
Sick Profit: Investigating Private Equity鈥檚 Stealthy Takeover of Health Care Across Cities and Specialties
Private equity firms have shelled out almost $1 trillion to acquire nearly 8,000 health care businesses, in deals almost always hidden from federal regulators. The result: higher prices, lawsuits, and complaints about care.
By Fred Schulte -
Ad Goes Too Far With Claim That Joe Biden Promotes Surgery for Trans Teens
Even some medical experts who are skeptical of gender-affirming care say the White House is not promoting breast removal and genital surgery for teens. But that鈥檚 not what an ad, funded by a group led by a former adviser to President Donald Trump, would have you believe.
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Listen: With Abortion Rights on the Ballot in Michigan, Women Tell Their Stories
Women who need abortion care come to Michigan from surrounding states that already have banned the procedure. A clinic in suburban Detroit allowed a reporter to interview patients, doctors, and nurses to understand what is at stake as voters decide whether to guarantee abortion access in the Michigan Constitution.
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Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions
The nation鈥檚 largest private health system, HCA Healthcare, has faced years of scrutiny over its share of emergency room patients who are admitted to the hospital. And now U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for a federal investigation, prompting an escalating defense by the hospital system, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
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For Republican Candidates, Talk About Moms and Babies Is a Thorny Issue
The abortion issue looms large over the midterm elections, and some in the Republican Party, long associated with efforts to restrict access, are looking to reassure voters they have women鈥檚 health in mind.
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Hurricane Ian鈥檚 Deadly Impact on Florida Seniors Exposes Need for New Preparation Strategies
Lengthy checklists from public health officials on handling emergencies miss vulnerable seniors who can鈥檛 always follow the recommendations.
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States Opting Out of a Federal Program That Tracks Teen Behavior as Youth Mental Health Worsens
Colorado, Florida, and Idaho are the latest states to opt out of a survey that tracks concerning behaviors in high school students. Officials cite low participation and state laws that require parental permission. But some advocates say dwindling state participation is an 鈥渆normous loss鈥 that will make it harder to track signs of poor mental health 鈥 like drug and alcohol misuse and suicidal ideation 鈥 among teens.
By Daniel Chang -
Baby, That Bill Is High: Private Equity 鈥楪ambit鈥 Squeezes Excessive ER Charges From Routine Births
Hospitals, boosted by private equity-backed staffing companies, have embraced a new idea: the obstetrics emergency department. Often, it is just a triage room in the labor-and-delivery area, but it bills like the main emergency department.
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Miami鈥檚 Little Haiti Joins Global Effort to End Cervical Cancer
Creole-speaking public health workers teach women how to test themselves for HPV, the virus that causes some cervical cancers.
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Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren鈥檛 Ready for Climate Change
Hundreds of medical centers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts face serious risks from even relatively weak storms as climate change accelerates sea-level rise 鈥 not to mention big ones like Category 4 Hurricane Ian.
By Daniel Chang and Lauren Sausser -
Few Places Have More Medical Debt Than Dallas-Fort Worth, but Hospitals There Are Thriving
Some hospitals notch big profits while patients are pushed into debt by skyrocketing medical prices and high deductibles, a KHN analysis finds.
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Death Is Anything but a Dying Business as Private Equity Cashes In
Investors are banking on increased demand in death care services as 73 million baby boomers near the end of their lives.
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Centene to Pay $166 Million to Texas in Medicaid Drug Pricing Settlement
Texas is at least the 12th state to settle with St. Louis-based Centene Corp. over allegations that it overcharged Medicaid prescription drug programs.
By Andy Miller and Samantha Young -
Journalists Look Into Wildfire Trauma and the South鈥檚 Monkeypox Response
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
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Southern States鈥 Lackluster Monkeypox Efforts Leave LGBTQ+ Groups Going It Alone
The gay community is disproportionally affected by the monkeypox outbreak, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says public health efforts should prioritize gay and bisexual men. But in the South, some LGBTQ+ advocates fear that this is not happening consistently. They say they are having to take matters into their own hands in the absence of a coordinated response from state governments.
By Daniel Chang and Colleen DeGuzman -
Hospitals Divert Primary Care Patients to Health Center 鈥楲ook-Alikes鈥 to Boost Finances
Medicare and Medicaid pay 鈥渓ook-alike鈥 health centers significantly more than hospitals for treating patients, and converting or creating clinics can help hospitals reduce their expenses.
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Organ Transplants Are Up, but the Agency in Charge Is Under Fire
A two-year congressional investigation has identified troubling lapses in the nation鈥檚 organ transplant system. Blood types mismatched, diseased organs transplanted anyway, and 鈥 most often 鈥 organs lost or damaged before they can save a life.
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Abortion Is Shaking Up Attorneys General Races and Exposing Limits to Their Powers
Abortion access is shaping races for legal office across the country, from local district attorneys to attorneys general. But it鈥檚 also highlighting the boundaries of their offices.
By Lauren Weber and Sam Whitehead