KFF Health News

Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous calls, complaints and several months to book an appointment.

A rise in cases of Vibrio vulnificus and its spread northward have heightened concern. The CDC is trying to make more doctors aware of the pathogen.

Congress is beginning to take action on the Social Security Administration’s clawbacks of payments it mistakenly made to poor, retired and disabled Americans.

Addiction treatment experts hope to increase access to the medication, which can reverse opioid overdoses. But hurdles remain: cost and stigma.

In the wake of an investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group, the SSA acting commissioner said a special team will review “overpayment policies and procedures” and report directly back to her.

Lawmakers are faulting the SAA for issuing billions in payments that beneficiaries weren’t entitled to receive — and then demanding the money back — as reported by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group.

Parents, educators, and elected officials agree that investing in school-based prevention efforts could help curb the rising rate of youth drug overdoses. The well-known DARE program is one likely choice, but its effectiveness is in question.

Beneficiaries in five states described what happened when they received demands to return overpayments that reached up to tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Where trees are growing — and who has access to their shade — affects health and well-being, especially in Florida, one of the hottest states in the country.

Though health policies in general got little airtime, the discussion of whether candidates support a federal abortion ban underscored how Republicans, in a post-Roe environment, face political challenges on the issue.