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Prior authorization practices by health insurers have come under scrutiny in recent years, in part spurred by the public sentiment that delays and denials of care are a problem. According to KFF polling, about seven in ten insured adults say prior authorization is a burden. New evidence from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the Department of Health and Human Services documents the high rate of denials of prior authorization requests for certain post-acute care services in Medicare Advantage plans, which now enroll more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries. The OIG recently published two reports finding that Medicare…
January 20, 2025Presidential Executive Orders precipitate removal of some HHS websites and health data. – In the first days of his second term President Trump issued a number of Executive Orders (EOs), including EOs that revoked many Biden administration orders and programs, and instituted new federal guidance related to “gender ideology,” “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI),” and “merit-based opportunities.” These EOs have implications for public health, particularly related to the collection and presentation of data and websites by the federal government. For example, in response to the EOs, HHS began to remove thousands of websites and numerous federal databases with…
For decades, Californians have generally said that immigrants, who make up more than a quarter of the state’s population and a third of its labor force, are beneficial to the state and its economy. But budget instability and concerns about rising costs are spilling into a debate over the controversial and expensive policy of allowing low-income immigrants without legal status to receive state-funded health coverage. Now, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton present a stark choice to voters in the race to be the next governor at a moment when public support for the state’s generous safety net is…
Too sick to work? You may have to prove it. Next year, Medicaid recipients will have to start showing documentation such as a doctor’s note to avoid a new work requirement. KFF Health News correspondent Sam Whitehead broke down the rule and exceptions on WAMU’s Health Hub on July 1. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Study, work, or volunteer: That’s what many people will have to do to keep their Medicaid starting next year, according to new rules issued by the Trump administration. But consumer advocates worry the new requirements will…
The World Health Assembly plenary where the historic Pandemic Agreement was approved. It cannot come into effect until the PABS annex is agreed. The Pandemic Agreement talks resume at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) headquarters on Monday (7 July), kicking off immediately with a closed session on how to share specimens of pathogens with pandemic potential. While those close to the talks say that slow progress is being made, the 10-day negotiations (which ends 17 July) are unlikely to result in an agreed pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system just yet. Africa is asserting itself in several global platforms, insisting…
A lack of digital governance exposes young people to algorithmic harms and severe health risks, warn WHO and France. A lack of youth online safety is a global public health crisis that demands systemic platform regulation to protect children from harm, according to a joint declaration by the French government and the World Health Organization (WHO). They demand urgent digital governance to mandate safe platform redesigns, as nations struggle to enforce easily bypassed social media bans. While online environments can offer educational and social benefits, poorly governed digital spaces pose grave risks to the physical and mental development of youth,…
A major rollout of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools across the NHS is being accelerated to help cut waiting lists and improve care for millions of patients. A new AI triage tool in the NHS App that helps direct patients to the most appropriate NHS service, as well as widespread access to AI notetaking tools to reduce admin for NHS staff, are among the improvements being prioritised across England. Today the NHS is setting out how £10 billion of funding over the next three years, allocated by the government last year, will be used for a major overhaul of the health…
El Niño conditions are set to intensify in the July-September, bringing extreme weather conditions to significant parts of the world. The El Niño conditions that bring extreme rainfall, heat waves and drought to different parts of the world are set to intensify further during the July-September period this year, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). While the Indian subcontinent has to brace for below-normal rainfall, parts of Africa and southern Europe will see above-normal rainfall, according to WMO’s latest update, published Friday. “El Niño conditions are already underway and are forecast to strengthen rapidly into a strong event – as…
Leslie Ransammy, Guyana’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva at a high level event on sexual and reproductive health rights in Geneva in May. The dramatic global health budget cutbacks in services for maternal and reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have produced 17 million unintended pregnancies, and more than 34,000 preventable maternal deaths in just the first year since cuts were made. That recent assessment by French and Washington DC-based analyses, was cited by Guyana’s UN Ambassador in Geneva, Leslie Ramsammy, at a World Health Assembly side event in May. And with deep, ongoing cuts in United Kingdom…
Patients are to receive at least 3 weeks’ notice from the NHS for all new medical appointments, under plans to overhaul patients’ experiences of the health service. NHS Chief Executive, Sir Jim Mackey, today said that trying to get clarity from the NHS had been “like walking through treacle” for far too many families, as he set out new standards for NHS services to improve patients’ experiences of care. The standards, published today, set out what patients can expect from the NHS when they are referred for planned care, and have been developed in consultation with patients, unpaid carers and…
KFF Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed the high cost of healthcare and the political fallout on WAMU’s 1A on June 30. KFF Health News senior correspondent Renuka Rayasam discussed the public health concerns around a planned immigration detention center in Georgia on WUGA’s The Georgia Health Report on June 26. Elections,Healthcare Costs,KFF Health News On Air,Public Health,ImmigrantsImmigrants#Journalists #Discuss #Healthcare #Costs #Political #Fallout #Concerns #Canceled #ICE #Facility1783071171
A young man who has been cured of Ebola Bundibundyo speaks to health workers in the DRC. A trial to test two antiviral therapies on patients with Ebola Bundibugyo Virus started to enrol patients on Thursday – but its exact location in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ituri province remains secret for security reasons. This emerged at a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing on Thursday, at which Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed yet another Ebola treatment centre in Ituri had been attacked in the past week. Citing “mistrust and violence” as significant obstacles to addressing the Ebola…
In September 2016, a distraught mother sent infant formula maker Mead Johnson a message: “REMOVE ME FROM YOUR LIST!!!! DO NOT EMAIL OR MAIL ME ANY MORE! “It is because of your animal based pre-term artificial baby food crap that you peddle to hospital NICU’s that my son is dead from NEC.” The mother was referring to neonatal intensive care units and necrotizing enterocolitis, an often fatal condition in which intestinal tissue can die and allow infection to spread through the body of an infant born prematurely. In an internal memo, Mead Johnson cited its “extensive quality and safety checks”…
As beachgoers flock to water during the busy July Fourth weekend, danger could be lurking in some areas. Researchers this spring discovered flesh-eating bacteria in water in several coastal locations across New York’s Long Island, and town officials in the Hamptons vacation destination posted an alert about the findings. Eight people in Florida have been infected this year, and Mississippi health officials in June urged people to take precautions. About 1 in 5 people infected by the bacteria die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fact sheet. The…
Malaria is becoming more frequent in parts of India as the climate changes, taking a heavy toll on those involved in agricultural activities. In 1994, Manvati Nag, an indigenous woman from Bijapur district in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, married and moved to Halbaras village in the forested Dantewada region about 80 kilometres away. Although the move was relatively short, it dramatically altered her health. Before moving, Nag never got sick. But after her move, she started to get malaria “once every year or two”, she told Dialogue Earth. And since 2022, she has contracted malaria “almost every three…
On June 1, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule providing states with guidance for implementing Medicaid “community engagement” or Medicaid work requirements as part of the 2025 federal budget reconciliation law. The law requires states to condition Medicaid eligibility for enrollees with coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expansion or under certain waivers on meeting these requirements or qualifying for an exclusion, including one related to being “medically frail or otherwise” having “a special medical need.” In defining medical frailty, the rule introduces a two-part test, requiring an enrollee to both…