KFF Health News

Most states have yet to permanently fund 988. Call centers want certainty.

September 14, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.

For rural Americans, who live in areas often short of mental health services and die by suicide at a far higher rate than urbanites, the federally mandated crisis phone line...

Kayce Atencio, who has been shadowed by medical debt for most of his adult life, recently moved into an apartment in Denver reserved for families at risk of homelessness. The small unit, which he shares with his school-age son and daughter, represents a new start, he says: 鈥淭his feels like freedom.鈥� (Photo by Rachel Woolf for KFF Health News)

A Denver father dreamed of a home for his family. Medical debt nearly pushed them onto the streets.

September 13, 2023 at 3:45 p.m.

Across the country, medical debt forces legions of Americans to make painful sacrifices. Many cut back on food, take on extra work, or drain retirement savings. For millions like Atencio,...

Promising Better, Cheaper Care, Kaiser Permanente’s National Expansion Faces Wide Skepticism

August 17, 2023 at 12:35 p.m.

Kaiser Permanente, the California-based health care giant, is looking to dramatically expand its national presence. It’s committed $5 billion to a new unit called Risant Health and has agreed to...

5280 High School in Denver is one of 43 secondary schools in the U.S. with a program designed for students recovering from substance use disorder and related mental health disorders. (Photo by Stephanie Daniel for KHN)

Inside Denver’s 5280 High, one of the country鈥檚 few recovery high schools

April 10, 2023 at 6:00 a.m.

In 2022, nearly a third of 12th graders and 1 in 5 10th graders reported using an illicit drug in the previous year, according to a national survey from the...

FILE – Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. Attorney generals in 20 conservative-led states warned CVS and Walgreens on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, that they could face legal consequences if they sell abortion pills by mail in those states. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

One Texas judge will decide fate of abortion pill used by millions of American women

March 1, 2023 at 10:59 a.m.

“What happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas,” warns an abortion rights advocate bracing for a district judge’s ruling on whether the abortion pill mifepristone was properly authorized by the...

Apprentices attend a certified nursing assistant class at the Western Colorado Area Health Education Center in Grand Junction, Colorado. (Photo by Kate Ruder/Kaiser Health News)

Rural Colorado tries to meet increasing need for health care workers with apprenticeships

December 3, 2022 at 6:00 a.m.

Besides increasing the number of direct care workers, the Colorado apprenticeship program offers opportunities for improving earning power to residents who live at or below the poverty line or who...

In this Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, file photo, a sign marks the entrance to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Colorado among states opting out of CDC program that tracks teen behavior as youth mental health worsens

October 31, 2022 at 6:00 a.m.

Colorado, Florida, and Idaho will not participate in a key part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 Youth Risk Behavior surveys that reaches more than 80,000 students.

Shattered Dreams and Bills in the Millions: Losing a Baby in America

September 29, 2022 at 3:01 a.m.

On top of fearing for their children’s lives, new parents of very fragile, very sick infants can face exorbitant hospital bills — even if they have insurance. Medical bills don’t...

In this Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, photo, a man uses a cell phone in New Orleans. Quick help for suicidal thoughts and other mental health emergencies may soon be as easy as 9-8-8. The United States鈥� first nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline goes live on Saturday, July 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

The US mental health hotline network is expanding, but rural areas still face care shortages

July 31, 2022 at 8:01 p.m.

On July 16, a three-digit number, 988, became the centerpiece of a nationwide effort to unify responses to Americans experiencing mental health crises. But many people, especially those in rural...

Boost now or wait? Many wonder how best to ride out COVID’s next wave

July 19, 2022 at 3:15 p.m.

As the country faces a rise in new infections driven by the omicron BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus, about 70% of people 50 and older who got a first COVID-19...

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