WinnDems News

In many places, victims of the opioid epidemic are silenced in decision-making about how to use opioid settlement money, a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by KFF Health News and Spotlight PA found. http://dlvr.it/TCQjX9

A private 2014 decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services faces new scrutiny in a multibillion-dollar Justice Department fraud case against UnitedHealth Group. http://dlvr.it/TCQjKR

A Colorado picnic celebrated Farmworker Appreciation Day. But some dairy workers there said they aren’t feeling appreciated: They don’t have basic protective gear, even as bird flu spreads through area farms. http://dlvr.it/TCQj5k

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Caitlyn Mai, a woman in Oklahoma who received a six-figure bill for a surgery her insurance promised to cover. This episode is an extended version of the “Bill of the Month” series, produced in partnership with NPR. http://dlvr.it/TCQht2

KFF Health News and The New York Times are looking into a dreaded “adulting” milestone: finding your own medical insurance at 26. http://dlvr.it/TCNSTF

Abortion and reproductive health issues headlined the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as expected. But what Vice President Kamala Harris has in mind for other health policies as the Democratic nominee remains something of a mystery. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump says he would not use the 19th-century Comstock Act to impose, in effect, a national ban on abortion, which angered his anti-abortion backers. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Tony Leys, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a woman who fought back after being charged for two surgeries despite undergoing only one. http://dlvr.it/TCHrTs

The former president’s claim of 300,000 annual opioid deaths contradicts government statistics. http://dlvr.it/TCGpxf

Garret Frey won a U.S. Supreme Court case as a teenager who needed assistance to attend high school. Now, he’s gained concessions under Iowa’s Medicaid program to help him live at home instead of in a care facility. http://dlvr.it/TCGphL

For years, federal lawmakers have failed to deliver the money needed to fix derelict public housing, leaving tenants — mostly people of color and families with low incomes — living with mold and gun violence that has had lasting health consequences. http://dlvr.it/TCDRy7

Regulators have been under the gun to curb unauthorized Obamacare enrollment and switching of plans. Separately, a pending lawsuit was amended with additional defendants and new allegations regarding tactics to garner greater ACA sales commissions. http://dlvr.it/TCDRjV

A collection agency sought court authority to garnish a patient’s wages to pay a disputed surgery bill. But after the patient showed up in court to argue the bill was bogus, the judge declined to let the bill collector seize her money. http://dlvr.it/TCB1Sm

New HIV diagnoses have decreased among Latinos in San Francisco, potentially marking the first time in five years that the group hasn’t accounted for the largest number of new cases. Public health experts express cautious optimism, but outreach workers warn that many Latinos still struggle to find testing and treatment. http://dlvr.it/TCB19v

Former President Donald Trump’s claim that Vice President Kamala Harris voted to “cut Medicare” is false, experts say. http://dlvr.it/TC7fv2

Medical aid in death is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia. But only Oregon and Vermont explicitly allow out-of-state people who are terminally ill to die with assistance there. So far, at least 49 people have made the trek while state legislation stalls elsewhere. http://dlvr.it/TC7fhv

Political drama involving a rural Georgia county reflects how state regulations that govern when and where hospitals can be built or expanded are evolving. http://dlvr.it/TC5JNC

“Certificate of need” laws, largely supported by the hospital industry, limit health facility construction in 35 states and Washington, D.C. Georgia lawmakers decided its law was complicating the reviving of two hospitals critical to their communities. http://dlvr.it/TC5J7T

As Democrats convene in Chicago to make official their presidential and vice presidential nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz together are raising the prominence of health care as a 2024 election issue. http://dlvr.it/TC5Hvc

The end of pandemic-era Medicaid coverage protections coincided with changes in more than a dozen states to expand coverage for lower-income people, including children, pregnant women, and the incarcerated. http://dlvr.it/TBzjYT

What does a law to protect worker pensions have to do with how health insurance is regulated? Far more than most people may think. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, turns 50 in September. The law fundamentally changed the way the federal and state governments regulate employer-provided health insurance and continues to shape health policy in the United States. In this special episode of “What the Health?”, host and KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner speaks to Larry Levitt of KFF, Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and Ilyse Schuman of the American Benefits Council about the history of ERISA and what its future might hold. http://dlvr.it/TByXS8

With medical devices, recalls are not always what they seem. In some recalls, including some of the most serious, the FDA and the manufacturers let doctors and hospitals continue to use the devices. http://dlvr.it/TBxRJB

Six months after the Feb. 14 parade, parents of survivors under 18 years old say their children are deeply changed. In this installment of “The Injured,” we meet kids who survived the mass shooting only to live with long-term emotional scars. http://dlvr.it/TBv9PG

Proposed legislation would require the state attorney general’s consent for a wide range of private equity acquisitions in health care. The hospital lobby negotiated an exemption for for-profit hospitals. http://dlvr.it/TBrpY8

This installment of InvestigateTV and KFF Health News’ “Costly Care” series digs into patients’ getting charged hospital prices for doctor’s office care. For five years, a patient got the same injection from the same office. Then it changed how it billed and she owed more than $1,100 for one treatment. http://dlvr.it/TBrp9J

How do the top-of-the-ticket candidates compare on abortion, medical debt, and more? Here’s what you need to know. http://dlvr.it/TBpWQG

Clashes between residents — verbal, physical, and sexual — can be spontaneous and too unpredictable to prevent. But the chance of an altercation increases when memory care homes admit and retain residents they can’t manage, according to a KFF Health News examination of inspection and court records and interviews with researchers. http://dlvr.it/TBhtBj

California is among a growing number of states that offer dental benefits to low-income residents, but some lawmakers want the state to go further by covering more cleanings and costlier implants. Dentists and health experts worry the approach doesn’t address the root of the problem: Many providers don’t accept Medicaid. http://dlvr.it/TBhstv

Vice President Kamala Harris this week officially became the Democratic nominee for president and named Minnesota governor and former U.S. congressman Tim Walz as her running mate. Meanwhile, a new study finds the number of abortions taking place since the overturn of “Roe v. Wade” continued to rise into early this year, despite the imposition of abortion bans around the country. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. http://dlvr.it/TBglZz

Ten states have not expanded Medicaid, leaving 1.5 million people ineligible for the state and federal insurance program and also unable to afford private insurance. Seven of those states are in the South, where expansion efforts may have momentum but where lawmakers say political polarization is holding them back. http://dlvr.it/TBfQc4

For rural patients, getting cancer treatment close to home has always been difficult. And now chemotherapy deserts are expanding across the United States as hospitals winnow services to save money, creating financial and logistical hurdles for people seeking lifesaving care. http://dlvr.it/TBbzCw

Congress and state legislatures are considering age bans and other limits for Instagram and TikTok out of concern that they harm kids’ mental health. But some researchers and pediatricians question whether there’s enough data to support that conclusion. http://dlvr.it/TBbyxC

Former President Donald Trump has distanced himself from a Heritage Foundation document that outlines positions on abortion and a range of other social issues. But Democrats view it as a window into the far right’s to-do list and a clear opening for political attack. http://dlvr.it/TBYVJP

For decades, state and federal agencies have restricted or delayed tribes and tribal epidemiology centers from accessing public health data, a blackout that leaves health workers in Native American communities cobbling together information to guide their work, including tracking devastating disease outbreaks. http://dlvr.it/TBYV6w

Kamala Harris fought health care consolidation during her tenure as California’s attorney general, and she could escalate the fight nationally if she wins in November. Still, the pace of mergers has accelerated. http://dlvr.it/TBW1vg

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. http://dlvr.it/TBP78N

The percentage of people who say they’ve tried to end a pregnancy without medical assistance increased after "Roe v. Wade" was overturned. One of the most common reasons for seeking a self-managed abortion was privacy concerns. http://dlvr.it/TBP6rD

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 KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” about a preauthorized surgery that generated a six-figure bill. http://dlvr.it/TBMx4g

Hoping to portray presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as extreme on immigration, former President Donald Trump and his supporters have said she wanted to give free health benefits, paid by taxpayers, to immigrants in the country without legal permission. But this statement overlooks key details. http://dlvr.it/TBLfb6