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Three-Year Abortion Trends Vary Dramatically by State

By Phillip Reese June 28, 2022 KFF Health News Original

About 930,000 abortions occurred in the U.S. in 2020, an 8% increase from 2017. But that nationwide figure belies dramatic variation among states — disparities expected to magnify in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade.

100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt

By Noam N. Levey June 16, 2022 KFF Health News Original

The U.S. health system now produces debt on a mass scale, a new investigation shows. Patients face gut-wrenching sacrifices.

Buy and Bust: When Private Equity Comes for Rural Hospitals

By Sarah Jane Tribble June 15, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Noble Health swept into two small Missouri towns promising to save their hospitals. Instead, workers and vendors say it stopped paying bills and government inspectors found it put patients at risk. Within two years — after taking millions in federal covid relief and big administrative fees — it locked the doors.

States Have Yet to Spend Hundreds of Millions of Federal Dollars to Tackle Covid Health Disparities

By Phil Galewitz and Lauren Weber and Sam Whitehead May 16, 2022 KFF Health News Original

A year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded states and local health departments $2.25 billion to help people of color and other populations at higher risk from covid. But a KHN review shows public health agencies across the country have been slow to spend it.

Why Won’t More Older Americans Get Their Covid Booster?

By Liz Szabo May 12, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Approximately 1 in 3 Americans 65 and older who completed their initial vaccination round still have not received a first booster shot. The numbers dismay researchers, who say the lag has cost tens of thousands of lives.

Is Paxlovid, the Covid Pill, Reaching Those Who Most Need It? The Government Won’t Say

By Hannah Recht May 12, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Many public health workers are unable to see how many doses of Pfizer’s antiviral treatment are shipped to their communities and cannot tell whether vulnerable residents are filling prescriptions as often as their wealthier neighbors.

What’s Next if ‘Roe v. Wade’ Falls? More Than Half of States Expected to Ban or Restrict Abortion

By Sarah Varney May 3, 2022 KFF Health News Original

If the Supreme Court affirms the leaked draft decision and overturns abortion rights, the effects would be sweeping in states where Republican-led legislatures have been eagerly awaiting the repudiation of a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

At US Hospitals, a Drug Mix-Up Is Just a Few Keystrokes Away

By Brett Kelman April 29, 2022 KFF Health News Original

After a Tennessee nurse killed a patient because of a drug error, the companies behind hospital medication cabinets said they’d make the devices safer. But did they?

How the Test-to-Treat Pillar of the US Covid Strategy Is Failing Patients

By Hannah Recht April 15, 2022 KFF Health News Original

The federal “test-to-treat” program was designed to be a one-stop shop for people to get tested for covid and to receive treatment. But as covid cases rise again, many communities have no participating locations, and website bugs make it difficult to book an appointment at the biggest participant.

Persistent Problem: High C-Section Rates Plague the South

By Lauren Sausser April 14, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Some U.S. states have reduced use of the procedure, including by sharing C-section data with doctors and hospitals. But change has proved difficult in the South, where women are generally less healthy heading into their pregnancies and maternal and infant health problems are among the highest in the U.S.

Babies Die as Congenital Syphilis Continues a Decade-Long Surge Across the US

By Anna Maria Barry-Jester April 12, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Congenital syphilis rates keep climbing, according to newly released federal data. But the primary funding source for most public health departments has been largely stagnant, its purchasing power dragged even lower by inflation.

California Sees Dramatic Decline in Child Homicide Victims. What’s Changed?

By Phillip Reese April 12, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Bucking the alarming spike in overall homicides in recent years, the homicide rate involving young children is down 70% in California from three decades ago. The nation has seen a parallel, albeit slower, decline.

The Pandemic Exacerbates the ‘Paramedic Paradox’ in Rural America

By Katheryn Houghton April 7, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Emergency medical services are a lifeline in regions with scarce medical care. But paramedics, trained to respond to patients with life-threatening injuries, are in short supply where they’re needed most.

Can Melatonin Gummies Solve Family Bedtime Struggles? Experts Advise Caution

By Jenny Gold March 24, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Throughout history, parents have searched for the secret to getting fretful children to sleep through the night. The latest strategy involves giving children melatonin-infused gummies and tablets, a trend that concerns some doctors.

It Was Already Hard to Find Evusheld, a Covid Prevention Therapy. Now It’s Even Harder.

By Hannah Recht March 17, 2022 KFF Health News Original

At least 7 million immunocompromised people could benefit from the monoclonal antibody injections designed to prevent covid-19. The government says it has enough doses for a fraction of those in need ― and it doesn’t have the money to buy more.

Dangerous Levels of Lead Were Found in the Water of About Half the Schools Tested in Montana

By Katheryn Houghton March 2, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Officials testing water found high lead levels in more than 100 of the state’s nearly 600 school buildings. But as of mid-February, half the state’s schools had yet to provide samples.

At Nursing Homes, Long Waits for Results Render Covid Tests ‘Useless’

By Rachana Pradhan February 2, 2022 KFF Health News Original

As omicron surges, more nursing homes are facing a double whammy: Lab tests are taking too long, and fast antigen tests are in short supply.

As Omicron Surges, Effort to Vaccinate Young Children Stalls

By Rachana Pradhan and Hannah Recht January 14, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Just 18% of 5- to 11-year-olds are fully vaccinated, with rates varying significantly across the country, a KHN analysis of federal data shows. Pediatricians say the slow pace and geographic disparities are alarming, especially against the backdrop of record numbers of cases and pediatric hospitalizations.

As Hospitals Fill Up, Paramedics Spend More Time Moving Patients, Less on Emergencies

By Helen Santoro December 17, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Gunnison paramedics cover the largest response zone in Colorado. Because of covid and the lack of nearby hospital beds, patients increasingly are transported long distances, leaving few ambulances to respond to emergencies.

Data Science Proved What Pittsburgh’s Black Leaders Knew: Racial Disparities Compound Covid Risk

By Christine Spolar December 7, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Inside the Black Equity Coalition’s novel effort to share community health intel and scrape government data to understand — and document — the life-threatening differences between white and Black Pittsburgh.

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