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Latest KFF Health News Stories

‘Luckiest Man Alive’: Why 9/11 First Responders’ Outlooks May Improve Even as Physical Health Fails

KFF Health News Original

The New York City Fire Department’s 20-year report on the health consequences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks finds that first responders consistently report mental health quality-of-life indicators that are better than those of average Americans, even as their physical health declines.

ECMO Life Support Is a Last Resort for Covid, and in Short Supply in South

KFF Health News Original

Many more people could benefit from the lifesaving treatment than are receiving it, which has made for messy triaging as the delta variant surges across the South and in rural communities with low covid vaccination rates.

Las exenciones “religiosas” agregan más complicación a los mandatos de vacunación que se avecinan

KFF Health News Original

Con los mandatos de vacunas en los lugares de trabajo más cerca, los que se oponen están recurriendo a un argumento, que en muchas ocasiones ha sido efectivo, para evitar vacunarse contra covid-19: que las vacunas interfieren con sus creencias religiosas.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Future of Public Health

KFF Health News Original

The covid pandemic has spotlighted the often-unseen role of public health in Americans’ daily lives. And the picture has not all been pretty. What is public health and why is it so important — and controversial? Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, explains the basics. Then, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Lauren Weber of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss what could happen next.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: How Charity Care Made It Into the ACA

KFF Health News Original

In this episode, we hear how the political tango over guaranteeing that nonprofit hospitals provide charity care nearly tanked the Affordable Care Act — and how the battle over the ACA “broke America.”

‘Religious’ Exemptions Add Legal Thorns to Looming Vaccine Mandates

KFF Health News Original

No major religion’s teachings denounce vaccination, but that hasn’t kept individual churches and others from providing religious “cover” for people to avoid submitting to vaccination as a workplace requirement.

Even in Red States, Colleges Gravitate to Requiring Vaccines and Masks

KFF Health News Original

As students return to campus, schools across the country are taking steps to enforce public health advice to keep people safe from covid. In deeply conservative South Carolina when elected officials tried to stop that, a professor took on the establishment and won.

California Set to Spend Billions on Curing Homelessness and Caring for ‘Whole Body’ Politic

KFF Health News Original

California is embarking on a five-year experiment to infuse its health insurance program for low-income people with billions of dollars in nonmedical services spanning housing, food delivery and addiction care. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the goal is to improve care for the program’s sickest and costliest members and save money, but will it work?

Listen: Many Schools Are Buying High-Tech Air Purifiers. What Should Parents Know?

KFF Health News Original

Studies have shown that better ventilation and air circulation can greatly reduce covid-19 transmission. But rather than stocking up on HEPA filters, some school districts are turning to high-tech air purification strategies.

The Pandemic Almost Killed Allie. Her Community’s Vaccination Rate Is 45%.

KFF Health News Original

As the delta variant overtakes Mississippi and other undervaccinated parts of the country, one 13-year-old girl’s experience with covid and MIS-C shows a community’s reluctance to embrace public health precautions and continued vulnerability to the pandemic.

V-Safe: How Everyday People Help the CDC Track Covid Vaccine Safety With Their Phones

KFF Health News Original

V-safe is a new safety monitoring system that lets anyone who has been vaccinated against covid-19 report possible side effects directly to federal health officials. Experts believe the smartphone tool has so far helped demonstrate the vaccines are safe.

Watch: Same Providers, Similar Surgeries, But Different Bills

KFF Health News Original

KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss the latest Bill of the Month installment, in which a man discovered the hard way that health plans can vary from one job to the next, even if the insurer is the same.

Covid, delta y tu deporte favorito, ¿es seguro ir a un estadio?

KFF Health News Original

Antes de la era COVID, sentarse hombro con hombro en un estadio con decenas de miles de espectadores gritando era lo que más esperaban los fans en el otoño. Ahora no parece ser la mejor idea.

Your Covid Game Plan: Are Stadiums Safe?

KFF Health News Original

Fall and football go hand in hand. But with covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths soaring from the delta variant, is it safe to go to the stadium? KHN asks the experts.

Telemedicine Abortions Offer Cheaper Options but May Also Undermine Critical Clinics

KFF Health News Original

A change in FDA rules during the pandemic has let women receive the drugs needed for a medical abortion by mail after a telemedicine appointment. While some abortion rights advocates hail the move, others note that these services, which are often cheaper than going to a clinic, could siphon away patients needed to keep those brick-and-mortar facilities operating.

Violación y pérdida de memoria, lo que la policía debería saber

KFF Health News Original

Las supervivientes de agresiones sexuales dicen que las interacciones con las fuerzas del orden pueden ser tan intensas, y tan brutales, que agregan un trauma secundario. Denunciar una violación puede ser especialmente traumático cuando los agentes ponen en duda las historias de las víctimas.