Carrie Feibel
Carrie Feibel is a senior editor on NPR's Science Desk, focusing on health care. She runs the NPR side of a joint reporting partnership with Kaiser Health News, which includes 30 journalists based at public radio stations across the country.
Previously, Feibel was KQED's health editor in San Francisco and the health and science reporter at Houston Public Radio. She has covered abortion policy and politics, the Affordable Care Act, the medical risks of rodeo, the hippie roots of the country's first "free clinic" and the evolution of drug education in the age of legal weed.
Feibel graduated from Cornell University and has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. In her print career, she worked at The (Bergen) Record and the Herald News in New Jersey, the Houston Chronicle and the Associated Press. She is currently a board member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.
Feibel was part of the coverage of Hurricane Ike, for which the Houston Chronicle was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist. At KQED, she edited a half-hour radio show on U.S. refugee policy that won an award in explanatory journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists.
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The insurance commissioner in Texas has toughened regulations covering the workers helping people sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Texas officials say the regulations are needed to protect consumer privacy. Supporters of the health law say they're an attempt to thwart Obamacare. -
Going without insurance would be a gamble. But the high deductibles of Affordable Care Act plans make them a hard sell for Tammy Boudreaux. If her health holds up, she could skip insurance, pay a penalty and still save a couple of hundred dollars a month. -
The push to get women to breast-feed has been so successful that many mothers who can't do it are looking for other mothers' extra milk. Milk banks that pasteurize and sell donated breast milk have sprung up. Informal online swapping of extra mother's milk has become popular, despite quality concerns. -
In Oregon, the online health marketplace isn't working for people looking to buy individual policies. But the state has been rapidly expanding Medicaid anyway. In Texas, insurance helpers may face state regulations that would make it even harder to assist people seeking coverage. -
Leading Texas politicians have resisted the federal health care law. But in Houston, community groups and public health agencies are trying to educate the city's 800,000 uninsured residents about new coverage options. -
Free-standing emergency rooms, separate from hospitals, are popping up across the country. Many look like urgent-care centers, but the ERs charge much more. Many consumers don't realize the difference until they get the bill. -
When a parent finds out he or she has cancer, one of the most difficult conversations to have may be with the children. Two programs in Houston teach children and parents how to deal with the emotions that arise throughout the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. -
Texas has opposed the Affordable Care Act from the start. There's been little movement on setting up its insurance marketplace because officials said they were waiting for the Supreme Court ruling. Local health care workers are worried that even after the ruling, the state won't set up an exchange and might even turn down the Medicaid money from the federal government.
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It's rodeo season across the country. Fans will pack stands to watch bucking broncos, raging bulls and barrel racing. For the participants, it's a natural high. But it can be also dangerous. Cowboys and cowgirls often get injured, sometimes seriously. -
Almost a quarter of people in Texas lack health insurance. We take a look at what that means for a patient struggling to get treatment for a health condition.
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Houston radio station KPFT's The Prison Show helps inmates connect to the outside by broadcasting messages from loved ones and even conducting on-air weddings. "This is a real dark, dark place," says inmate John Chris Hernandez, "and when the show comes on ... it brings a light into the cell." -
Under the Affordable Care Act, health plans that spend too much on administrative costs instead of medical care are required to offer rebates to customers. Some states, such as Texas, aren't ready for this change just yet.
