Latest KFF Health News Stories
Native Americans Feel Double Pain of COVID and Fires ‘Gobbling Up the Ground’
Tribal leaders have worked to keep the coronavirus off their reservations because of its deadly impact on Native populations. But careful avoidance of the COVID virus has handcuffed the tribes as they face a devastating fire season.
Battle Rages Inside Hospitals Over How COVID Strikes and Kills
The debate over how the coronavirus spreads heated up Friday when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conceded that the virus spreads through tiny particles, but then took down guidance that could have forced big changes in hospitals.
Opinion writers weigh in on these public health issues and others.
Different Takes: Lessons On Safe In-Person Voting; Time For Serious Reforms In Long-Term Care
Editorial writers focus on these pandemic topics and others.
GAO: Shortages In Many States Are Leading To Processing Delays In Testing
News about the COVID epidemic from Michigan, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Nevada, California, and Hawaii.
COVID news from England, Portugal, Finland, China, Ghana, Cameroon, New Zealand and Indonesia, where people who refuse to wear masks are ordered to dig graves for pandemic victims.
Children With Mental Health Needs Don’t Always Receive Follow-Up Care, Study Finds
Only 71% of the children received treatment in the three months that followed an initial insurance claim — but that rate greatly varied between ZIP codes. In the best-performing areas, nearly 90% received follow-up care within three months of an initial claim; in the worst-performing, only half did.
Cruise Companies Take Steps To Reassure The Public
Cruise companies say they will mandate COVID tests for all passengers and crews and mask wearing onboard. Hollywood attempts to resume production with union-negotiated rules in place.
Spike Of Cybercrimes Cripples School Functions For Virtual Learning
In one Texas school district, an attacker encrypted all the data and demanded $50,000 in ransom. The New York Times reports on what’s known about cases at K-12 schools so far without a federal monitoring effort.
Layoffs At A Blue Cross Blue Shield
In other health care industry news: the explosion of telemedicine, more hospital data breach fines, another young doctor dies of COVID and more.
Gyms May Not Be As Safe As Owners Say
Public health experts question the methods of a study that concluded gyms and health clubs are not spreading the coronavirus. More COVID-related public health news is on nursing homes and home ventilation.
WHO Urges Wealthy Nations To Join Plan To Distribute Vaccine To Most Vulnerable
Missing from participation are the U.S., China and Russia. Other vaccine news including developments in Russia and China.
Drinking Coffee Helps Colon Cancer Patients Live Longer, Study Suggests
Only patients who couldn’t be treated with surgery were involved in the study. Compared with those who didn’t drink coffee, the ones who drank a cup a day had an 11% increased rate of overall survival and a 5% increased rate of living progression-free. And the more they drank, the better.
Evidence Grows That Statin Drugs Are Safe, Beneficial For Elderly
Also in the news: the price of insulin versus other drugs; Legend Biotech; Keytruda; and Perdue Pharma CEO Craig Landau.
Biden Campaign Attacks Stay Targeted On Trump’s Pandemic Missteps
During a Wisconsin visit, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said, “I worry we’re at risk of becoming numb” to the 200,000 people in the U.S. who have died of COVID-19. He did not speak much of the pending Supreme Court battle, while President Donald Trump and Republicans shift their message to it.
Vaccine Approved For Emergency Use Wouldn’t Be Covered By Medicare
The Trump administration is scrambling to make a future coronavirus vaccine free to the nation’s 44 million Medicare beneficiaries, since Medicare doesn’t currently cover costs for drugs approved under emergency-use designations, The Wall Street Journal reports.
HHS Staffing Shake-Up Continues As More White House Liaisons Are Out
White House Liaison Emily Newman and her deputy Catherine Granito are being reassigned, leaving HHS Secretary Alex Azar with more centralized power over his agency, Politico reports.
Inside Justice Ginsburg’s Long Battle With Pancreatic Cancer
Several news outlets take a look at the cancer that killed Justice Ruth Ginsburg.
How The Dynamics Of Obamacare Case Before High Court Have Changed
The vacancy on the Supreme Court heightens the drama over the future of Obamacare.
Another CDC Reversal: Agency Takes Back Info On How COVID Spreads In Air
On Friday, the CDC website was updated to say that 6 feet of distance may not be enough to avoid airborne transmission of COVID-19. That guidance was removed on Monday. CDC officials say draft language was posted in error, but the misstep comes at a time when public confidence in the agency is taking a hit due to confusing messaging.