Nearly a decade ago, Medicare launched a program to help the two-thirds of beneficiaries with chronic conditions by paying their doctors an additional monthly fee to coordinate their care. The strategy has largely failed to live up to its potential; only about 4 percent of potentially eligible beneficiaries in the traditional Medicare program are enrolled, according to a Mathematica analysis. But thousands of physicians have boosted their pay by participating, and auxiliary for-profit businesses have sprung up to help doctors take advantage of the program. An analysis of federal data by my KFF ..read more

Durante décadas, las preocupaciones sobre la contaminación automovilística se han centrado en lo que sale del tubo de escape. Ahora, investigadores y reguladores dicen que se necesita prestar más atención a las emisiones tóxicas de los neumáticos mientras los vehículos circulan por las carreteras. Y primero en la lista de preocupaciones se encuentra un producto químico llamado 6PPD, que se agrega a los neumáticos para que duren más tiempo. Cuando los neumáticos se van desgastando por el roce con el pavimento, liberan 6PPD. Al entrar en contacto con el ozono, esta sustancia reacciona y se convi ..read more

For decades, concerns about automobile pollution have focused on what comes out of the tailpipe. Now, researchers and regulators say, we need to pay more attention to toxic emissions from tires as vehicles roll down the road. At the top of the list of worries is a chemical called 6PPD, which is added to rubber tires to help them last longer. When tires wear on pavement, 6PPD is released. It reacts with ozone to become a different chemical, 6PPD-q, which can be extremely toxic — so much so that it has been linked to repeated fish kills in Washington state. The trouble with tires doesn’t stop th ..read more

Un equipo de investigadores de Montana está jugando un papel clave en el desarrollo de una vacuna más efectiva contra la tuberculosis, una enfermedad infecciosa que ha matado a más personas que ninguna otra. La BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin), desarrollada en 1921, sigue siendo la única vacuna contra la tuberculosis (TB). Si bien tiene una eficacia del 40% al 80% en niños pequeños, su efectividad es muy baja en adolescentes y adultos, lo que impulsó un esfuerzo mundial para encontrar una vacuna que sea más potente. El Centro de Medicina Translacional de la Universidad de Montana está llevando a ..read more

New technologies are making it easier for companies to fix prices and discriminate against individual consumers, the Biden administration’s top consumer watchdog said Tuesday. Algorithms make it possible for companies to fix prices without explicitly coordinating with one another, posing a new test for regulators policing the market, said Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, during a media event hosted by KFF. “I think we could be entering a somewhat novel era of pricing,” Khan told reporters. Khan is regarded as one of the most aggressive antitrust regulators in recent U.S. histo ..read more

En una estrecha calle de townhouses y un taller mecánico en el vecindario Kensington, en el norte de Philadelphia, Marsella Elie subió los escalones y golpeó fuerte las puertas de las casas. Un hombre de mediana edad abrió, con mirada cautelosa. “Hola, señor, ¿cómo está hoy?”, le preguntó Elie, que tenía puesta una chaqueta con el logo de la Campana de la Libertad, del gobierno de la ciudad. “Mi nombre es Marsella. Estoy trabajando con la ciudad. ¿Ha oído hablar de las sobredosis que están ocurriendo en el vecindario, verdad?”. El hombre asintió. Elie señaló los folletos que tenía sobre sobred ..read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California state lawmakers this year are continuing their progressive tilt on health policy with dozens of proposals including a ban on a Froot Loops ingredient and free condoms for high schoolers. As states increasingly fracture along partisan lines, California Democrats are stamping their supermajority on legislation that they will consider until they adjourn at the end of August. But the cost of these proposals will be a major factor given the enormity of the state’s deficit, currently estimated at between $38 billion and $73 billion. Health Coverage Lawmakers are again ..read more

KALISPELL, Mont. — On a cold February morning at the Flathead Warming Center, Tashya Evans waited for help with her Medicaid application as others at the shelter got ready for the day in this northwestern Montana city. Evans said she lost Medicaid coverage in September because she hadn’t received paperwork after moving from Great Falls, Montana. She has had to forgo the blood pressure medication she can no longer pay for since losing coverage. She has also had to put off needed dental work. “The teeth broke off. My gums hurt. There’s some times where I’m not feeling good, I don’t want to eat ..read more

The Biden administration finalized nursing home staffing rules Monday that will require thousands of them to hire more nurses and aides — while giving them years to do so. The new rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are the most substantial changes to federal oversight of the nation’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes in more than three decades. But they are less stringent than what patient advocates said was needed to provide high-quality care. Spurred by disproportionate deaths from covid-19 in long-term care facilities, the rules aim to address perennially sparse staffing ..read more

MANTI, Utah — Garrett Clark estimates he has spent about six years in the Sanpete County Jail, a plain concrete building perched on a dusty hill just outside this small, rural town where he grew up. He blames his addiction. He started using in middle school, and by the time he was an adult he was addicted to meth and heroin. At various points, he’s done time alongside his mom, his dad, his sister, and his younger brother. “That’s all I’ve known my whole life,” said Clark, 31, in December. Clark was at the jail to pick up his sister, who had just been released. The siblings think this time will ..read more