Category: Health

For two decades, patients and physicians eagerly awaited a lower-cost version of the world’s bestselling drug, Humira, while its maker, AbbVie, fought off potential competitors by building a wall of more than 250 patents around it. When the first Humira biosimilar — essentially a generic version — finally hit the market in January, it came […]

Dan Weissmann Many people searching for a therapist or psychiatrist turn to the list of in-network providers offered by their insurance plan. But often, many of the doctors on the list don’t take that insurance plan, aren’t accepting new patients, or simply don’t answer the phone. Researchers and journalists call this phenomenon a “ghost network.” […]

Colleen DeGuzman The decades-old system Texas foster care officials use to track and monitor the health records of the nearly 20,000 children in their custody is both outdated and unreliable — so much so, advocates say, that children have been harmed or put at risk. And those deficiencies persist despite a 2015 order by a […]

Michael Vera walked into a bedroom of a residential drug treatment program in Los Angeles in March to find its occupant slumped over on his bed and struggling to breathe, a homemade straw on the floor beside him and tinfoil with what appeared to be drug residue under his body. The 35-year-old overdose victim had […]

Addressing the impact of the House GOP debt-ceiling bill on veterans’ programs,“I’m dead serious that we’re not cutting veterans, and I mean it.” Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, in a speech on the House floor, April 26. House Republicans have set themselves a tough, if not impossible, task […]

WAKEFIELD, Jamaica — El boxeador se sentía destrozado. Todos los días, se despertaba con dolor. A veces eran dolores de cabeza debilitantes. Otros, era su espalda. O sus puños. Sus costillas. Su nariz. Además, sufría de cambios de humor. Depresión. Ansiedad. Mike Lee no se arrepintió de su carrera. Había sido uno de los mejores […]

David Hilzenrath Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant’s main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available. Although decades ago the THC content of weed was commonly less than 1.5%, some products on the market today are more than 90% THC. The buzz of […]

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing “988,” or the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741. A paramedic for about 30 years, Susan Farren knew all was not well with first responders: Eight of her colleagues had died […]

The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to […]

MISSOULA, Mont. — Jacqueline Towarnicki got a text as she finished her day shift at a local clinic. She had a new case, a patient covered in bruises who couldn’t remember how the injuries got there. Towarnicki’s breath caught, a familiar feeling after four years of working night shifts as a sexual assault nurse examiner […]