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Hospitals in several states are partnering with a private equity-backed company to offer combined emergency and urgent care in a single building. But patients may not realize prices vary between the two services — often by a lot.
The elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the presumed Democratic presidential ticket is newly energizing the debate over abortion, while former President Donald Trump attempts to distance himself from more sweeping proposals in the “Project 2025” GOP blueprint put together by his former administration officials and the conservative Heritage Foundation. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who reported and wrote the latest Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” about a preauthorized surgery that generated a six-figure bill.
Florida’s RSV season begins earlier and runs longer than anywhere else in the U.S., according to the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. New vaccines can help, but most older adults, who are vulnerable to RSV, haven’t gotten them yet.
For the 2024 campaign, Joe Biden is out, and Kamala Harris is in. As the vice president makes moves toward the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, health policy is resurging as a campaign issue. Meanwhile, Congress tries — and again fails — to make timely progress on the annual government spending bills as abortion issues cause delays. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Stephanie Armour of Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Anthony Wright, the new executive director of Families USA, about his plans for the organization and his history working with Harris on health topics. 
If she grabs the baton from President Joe Biden to become the new presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris would widely be expected to take an aggressive stance in support of abortion access — hitting former President Donald Trump on an issue that could undermine his chances of victory.
Republicans were once the party of Obamacare repeal and abortion opposition. They’ve said little about either issue in Milwaukee.
Misleading money-for-groceries ads helped lure people to call centers where some were enrolled in Affordable Care Act coverage — or switched from their existing plans — without their express permission, a new lawsuit alleges.
Healthcare in Action, a California medical group that exclusively serves homeless people, has tapped into growing demand and funding for street medicine services. Three years in, the innovative nonprofit is raking in revenue and serving thousands of people who otherwise might flock to the hospital for high-cost care.
Though the Trump administration established a voluntary, temporary program lowering insulin costs for some older Americans on Medicare, the mandatory price caps implemented through Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act go significantly further.
Anthony Wright, a champion for Californians’ health care rights, will take the helm of Families USA in Washington, D.C., where he plans to campaign for more affordable and accessible care nationally. He leaves Health Access California, where he helped outlaw surprise medical billing, require companies to report drug price increases, and cap hospital bills for uninsured patients.
The Supreme Court has issued its final opinions for the 2023-24 term, including decisions affecting abortion access, the opioid epidemic, and how the federal government functions. In this special episode, Sarah Somers , legal director of the National Health Law Program, joins Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss how the justices disposed of the term’s health-related cases and what those decisions could mean going forward.
Rising health care costs are fueling anxiety among older Americans covered by Medicare. They’re right to be concerned.
A Supreme Court ruling restricting federal power will likely have seismic ramifications for health policy. A flood of litigation — with plaintiffs like small businesses, drugmakers, and hospitals challenging regulations they say are too expensive or burdensome and not authorized by law — could leave the country with a patchwork of disparate health regulations.
In what will certainly be remembered as a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has overruled a 40-year-old precedent that gave federal agencies, rather than judges, the power to interpret ambiguous laws passed by Congress. Administrative experts say the decision will dramatically change the way key health agencies do business. Also, the court decided not to decide whether a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care overrides Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
A debate marked by President Joe Biden’s faltering performance featured clashes over insulin costs, inflation, abortion, immigration, and Jan. 6.
In the swing state of Wisconsin, the cost and availability of health care have emerged as key issues. Voters there say prescriptions, procedures, and health insurance policies are too expensive, and must be addressed by the next president, whether Republican or Democrat.
The technology has generated notices with errors, sent Medicaid paperwork to the wrong addresses, and been frozen for hours at a time, according to state audits, court documents, and interviews. While it can take months to fix problems, America’s poorest residents pay the price.
Health policy may not be the top issue in this year’s presidential and congressional elections, but it’s likely to play a key role. President Joe Biden and Democrats intend to hold Republicans responsible for the Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling overturning the right to abortion, and former President Donald Trump aims to take credit for government efforts to lower prescription drug prices — even in cases in which he played no role. Meanwhile, some critical health care issues, such as those involving Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, are unlikely to get discussed much, even though the party in power after the elections would control the future of those programs. This week, in an episode taped before a live audience at the Aspen Ideas: Health festival in Aspen, Colorado, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
The White House has launched an initiative on women’s health. Studying the health of older women, a largely neglected group in medical research, should be a priority.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, ruling unanimously that the anti-abortion doctor group that filed the suit lacked standing. But abortion opponents are expected to pursue other strategies to ban or restrict the medication. Meanwhile, the Biden administration moves to stop the inclusion of medical debt on individual credit reports, and former President Donald Trump tries to claim credit for $35 insulin. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Rachana Pradhan of Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News, and Emmarie Huetteman of Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF president and CEO Drew Altman about KFF’s new “Health Policy 101” primer.
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