Suzanne King
Health Reporter, Kansas City BeaconSuzanne King Raney is The Kansas City Beacon's health reporter. During her newspaper career, she has covered education, local government and business. At The Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Business Journal she wrote about the telecommunications industry. Suzanne is also the proud mom of three daughters.
Email her at suzanne@thebeacon.media.
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Although The University of Kansas Health System and NKC Health provide free care and write off millions in charges, they have sued more than 400 people in Missouri and Kansas so far this year. Other area hospitals also don't garnish patients' wages to recoup payment. -
Nonprofit hospitals are required to help those who can’t pay, but as medical costs rise and health insurance coverage shrinks, some patient advocates say hospitals need to do more. Recent reporting about Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall has raised broader questions about the ethics and methods of collecting debt. -
Wyandotte County voters will be asked in November's election if they want to add a special tax for health that could also support other services for unhoused residents. Currently, the county only offers a temporary shelter that's open on the winter's coldest nights. -
The end of enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans is adding to the tally of uninsured patients. New Medicaid requirements coming in January could be a multiplier. -
Despite a new presidential order, health officials urge parents to stick with longstanding guidance about routine shots. -
A $3.7 million grant from the EPA, one of the largest awarded nationwide this year, will be used to remediate 54 vacant lots in the Douglass-Sumner neighborhood in northeast Wyandotte County. Work could begin as early as September. -
Every carrier selling health insurance in the two states through the Affordable Care Act marketplace hopes to raise premiums in 2027, according to preliminary rate filings with state insurance regulators. They blame rising healthcare costs. -
New work requirements and twice-yearly eligibility checks are expected to cause millions of adults to lose Medicaid coverage. But community religious leaders and health advocates have been meeting every other week to plan and strategize about how to mitigate the damage. -
Nearly 40% of ballots in a union election of pharmacy technicians at the University of Kansas Health System arrived in the mail late, possibly changing the results — which the union lost by just two votes. Now the state board has ordered a recount. -
Kansas City’s 2024 gun homicide rate of 24.6 per 100,000 people ranked among the worst of U.S. cities. That stands in sharp contrast to the countries with teams based in the city for the World Cup — England, Argentina, the Netherlands and Algeria.
