Wisconsin hospitals had filed at least 104 lawsuits in small claims court since the state declared a public health emergency March 12. Most now say they are suspending the cases; one hospital has dismissed them after a reporter’s calls.
As states scour the world for masks and other protective medical equipment, the federal government has repeatedly invoked a little-known clause in the Defense Production Act to step to the front of the line for sought-after health supplies.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced millions out of work and the federal-state health program for low-income people could face unprecedented strains as many states don’t necessarily have the resources or systems in place to meet the demand.
Travel restrictions came after the coronavirus had reached the U.S.
States urgently need millions of tests, and the game changer they’ve been waiting on falls well short of what is needed, according to government documents obtained by KHN.
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing changes to the U.S. health system that were previously unthinkable. Yet some fights ― including over the Affordable Care Act and abortion — persist even in this time of national emergency. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Liz Szabo about the latest installment of KHN-NPR’s “Bill of the Month.”
Molecular diagnostics are at the frontier of science, but insurance and billing questions create a minefield for patients.
Under pressure, the federal government announced it will let surgery centers, hotels and even college dorms serve as hospitals to treat an overflow of patients.
Hundreds of thousands of people will be able to appeal hospitals’ decisions to classify them as “observation care” patients instead of inpatients, under a ruling last week in a class action suit.