Watch: Walgreens Stops Sale of Abortion Pill in 21 States Under GOP Threat of Legal Action

By Sarah Varney March 6, 2023 Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News Walgreens has announced it will stop dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone in 21 states where Republican attorneys general threatened legal action against the company, which is the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain. KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney joined PBS NewsHour co-anchor Amna Nawaz in a […]

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Virtual or In Person: Which Kind of Doctor’s Visit Is Better, And When It Matters

When the covid-19 pandemic swept the country in early 2020 and emptied doctors’ offices nationwide, telemedicine was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Patients and their physicians turned to virtual visits by video or phone rather than risk meeting face-to-face. During the early months of the pandemic, telehealth visits for care exploded. “It was a dramatic […]

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Struggling to Survive, the First Rural Hospitals Line Up for New Federal Lifeline

Just off the historic U.S. Route 66 in eastern New Mexico, a 10-bed hospital has for decades provided emergency care for a steady flow of people injured in car crashes and ranching accidents. It also has served as a close-to-home option for the occasional overnight patient, usually older residents with pneumonia or heart trouble. It’s […]

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Despite Pharma Claims, Illicit Drug Shipments to US Aren’t Full of Opioids. It’s Generic Viagra.

For years, the FDA has defended its efforts to intercept prescription drugs coming from abroad by mail as necessary to keep out dangerous opioids, including fentanyl. The pharmaceutical industry frequently cites such concerns in its battle to stymie numerous proposals in Washington to allow Americans to buy drugs from Canada and other countries where prices […]

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Journalists Discuss Insulin Prices, Gun Violence, Distracted Driving, and More

Thank you for your interest in supporting Kaiser Health News (KHN), the nation’s leading nonprofit newsroom focused on health and health policy. We distribute our journalism for free and without advertising through media partners of all sizes and in communities large and small. We appreciate all forms of engagement from our readers and listeners, and […]

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Guns Are the Biggest Public Health Threat Kids Face. Why Aren’t They Getting the Message?

I still remember the raspy voice of the wizened cancer patient with the hole in her throat. So addicted to the poison that was killing her — cigarettes — she interspersed her words of warning about the dangers of smoking with taking puffs of a cigarette through her tracheostomy hole. It was a short, disturbing […]

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Shaved Costs, High Risk, Maximum Profits: Regulators Worry About Florida’s Butt Lift Boom

MIAMI — In hindsight, Nikki Ruston said, she should have recognized the red flags. The office in Miami where she scheduled what’s known as a Brazilian butt lift had closed and transferred her records to a different facility, she said. The price she was quoted — and paid upfront — increased the day of the […]

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Schools Struggle With Lead in Water While Awaiting Federal Relief

PHILIPSBURG, Mont. — On a recent day in this 19th-century mining town turned tourist hot spot, students made their way into the Granite High School lobby and past a new filtered water bottle fill station. Water samples taken from the drinking fountain the station replaced had a lead concentration of 10 parts per billion — […]

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March Medicaid Madness | Kaiser Health News

The Host With Medicare and Social Security apparently off the table for federal budget cuts, the focus has turned to Medicaid, the federal-state health program for those with low incomes. President Joe Biden has made it clear he wants to protect the program, along with the Affordable Care Act, but Republicans will likely propose cuts […]

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Eli Lilly Slashed Insulin Prices. This Starts a Race to the Bottom.Kaiser Health News

Bram Sable-Smith and Samantha Young When drugmaker Eli Lilly announced Wednesday it will slash the list price for some of its insulin products following years of criticism from lawmakers and activists that the price of the lifesaving hormone had become unaffordable, the news raised questions about what will happen to other efforts to provide low-cost […]

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