kaiser-health-news

Mental health respite facilities are filling care gaps in more than a dozen states

BY: - July 14, 2023

They offer a short-term, homelike environment for people who are experiencing a mental health crisis but don't need immediate medical care.

Young man visiting hospitalized father

Study reveals staggering toll of being Black in America: 1.6M excess deaths over 22 years

BY: - May 17, 2023

By Liz Szabo Research has long shown that Black people live sicker lives and die younger than white people. Now a new study, published Tuesday in JAMA, casts the nation’s racial inequities in stark relief, finding that the higher mortality rate among Black Americans resulted in 1.63 million excess deaths relative to white Americans over […]

A flag flies outside Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama in 2019.

As U.S. life expectancy falls, experts cite the health impacts of incarceration

BY: - April 28, 2023

At least 6,182 people died in state and federal prisons in 2020, a 46% jump from the previous year.

April Adcox was uninsured when she was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2020. She delayed treatment for 18 months because she was panicked about the complex surgery and the prospect of a hefty bill. In the meantime, she wore hats and bangs to camouflage the affected area as it expanded on her forehead. (ANDREW J. WHITAKER FOR KHN)

For uninsured people with cancer, securing care can be like spinning a roulette wheel

BY: - April 13, 2023

In the face of potentially daunting bills, uninsured adults sometimes delay care, which can result in worse survival outcomes.

Health providers scramble to keep remaining staff amid Medicaid rate debate

BY: - March 26, 2023

Providers across the United States say they haven’t seen significant reimbursement increases in more than a decade.

Why fresh produce is an increasingly popular prescription for chronically ill patients

BY: - March 22, 2023

Produce prescription programs could reduce the costs of treating chronic health conditions. But do they work?

A digital illustration, in pencil and watercolor, about the mental health effects on youth who experience gun violence. A repeating pattern made out of handguns close in on a young boy, who is at the center of the drawing. He covers his face with his hand s, an anguished expression visible on his face. A line of thin red circles are layered across the horizontal center, symbolizing cycles of trauma.

Pandemic stress, gangs, and utter fear fueled a rise in teen shootings

BY: - March 13, 2023

Teens who carry firearms might never plan to use them. But guns and developing brains can be a volatile mix.

$50B in opioid settlement cash is on the way. How will it be spent? | Analysis

BY: - March 2, 2023

Transparency 'is letting everyone — I mean everyone — know they can be part of this,' a recovery expert said.

Stay Active and Independent for Life (SAIL) is an exercise class that improves seniors’ strength and flexibility to reduce th eir risk of falling. (Christina Saint Louis/KHN)

Rural seniors are benefiting from pandemic-driven remote fitness boom

BY: - January 16, 2023

When the pandemic began, senior service agencies hustled to rework health classes to include virtual options for older adults. Now that isolation has ended, virtual classes remain. For seniors in rural areas, those classes have broadened access to supervised physical activity.

In rural America, the deadly costs of opioids outweigh the dollars tagged to address them

BY: - December 29, 2022

'Most folks know these individuals or know somebody who knows them,' Pamlico County Manager Tim Buck said.

ER doctors call private equity staffing practices illegal, seek to ban them

BY: - December 24, 2022

Doctors, consumer advocates, and some lawmakers are looking forward to a California lawsuit against private equity-backed Envision Healthcare. The case is part of a multistate effort to enforce rules banning corporate ownership of physician practices.

Schools, Sheriffs, and Syringes: State plans vary for spending $26B in opioid settlement funds

BY: - November 23, 2022

States’ choices generally reflect a range of local priorities.