Healthcare

Lawmakers like California Republican Rep. David Valadao could be instrumental in determining the future of Medicaid. Much of his largely rural district relies on the program to pay for medical expenses.

U.S. Attorneys allege Community Health System and a technology company paid “extravagant” benefits, including bonuses, meals and technology discounts, to doctors who referred patients to their facilities.

As Baby Boomers age, more senior citizens and elderly create higher demand for geriatric doctors, and greater reliance on Medicare, Medicaid.

Sumana Reddy, a primary care physician, struggles on thin financial margins to run Acacia Family Medical Group, the small independent practice she founded 27 years ago in Salinas, a predominantly Latino city in an agricultural valley often called “the salad bowl of the world.”

At least seven Fresno-area healthcare workers lost their jobs recently, with more challenges expected to emerge in the coming days.

Average monthly premiums for families with employer-provided health coverage in California’s private sector nearly doubled over the last 15 years, from just over $1,000 in 2008 to almost $2,000 in 2023, a KFF Health News analysis of federal data shows. That’s more than twice the rate of inflation.

California this year completed its Medi-Cal expansion to include income-eligible residents regardless of their immigration status. This final installment of the “Faces of Medi-Cal” series profiles three of those newly eligible patients and how coverage has affected their health.

A hospital closure in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley a year and a half ago underscored something that people in the region have long known: They don’t have enough doctors or access to medical care.

A law created in 2002 paved the way for Mexican physicians to practice in communities across California. Twenty years later, half a dozen are practicing in the San Joaquin Valley.

The bankrupt Madera Community Hospital still owes more than $30 million to creditors, according to the most recent update.