Latest KFF Health News Stories
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Senate Acts
The U.S. Senate worked well into its scheduled August recess to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a budget blueprint that outlines a much larger bill — covering key health priorities — to be written this fall. Meanwhile, the latest surge of covid is making both employers and schools rethink their opening plans. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Yasmeen Abutaleb of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Reading, ’Rithmetic and Resisting Covid: The New 3 R’s as Kids Head Back to School
Children under 12 can’t get a vaccine, so parents are concerned about how to keep them safe as classes resume — especially as the delta variant spreads.
Public Favors Masks in Classrooms but Balks at Mandating Vaccinations for Students
With schools reopening, poll finds two-thirds of parents support mandating masks for unvaccinated students, but resistance to vaccinating students remains high. “My child is not a test dummy,” one Black parent told pollsters. Some parents deferred the decision to their teens.
DeSantis’ Executive Order Is Misleading About Lack of Scientific Support for Masking in Schools
The Florida governor’s order said schools couldn’t mandate that students wear masks and that the state could deny funding to school districts that didn’t comply.
New Moms Latched On to Remote Breastfeeding Help. Will Demand Wane as Pandemic Fades?
The pandemic forced new parents to find help with breastfeeding online. Now, some offerings are remaining virtual to help expand access to lactation support.
Bye-Bye to Health Insurance ‘Birthday Rule’? Kansas Lawmaker Floats Fix
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) introduced a bill to do away with a health insurance rule that dictates which parent’s plan becomes a new baby’s primary insurer. This could save some parents from unexpected, sometimes massive medical bills. Davids took up the issue after a KHN/NPR Bill of the Month story on one family’s unexpected $207,455 NICU bill.
Watch: More Long-Covid Cases Seen in Kids
While covid is generally mild in children, doctors report a growing number of long-haul covid symptoms and MIS-C cases, particularly among Black and Latino children.
Dying Patients With Rare Diseases Struggle to Get Experimental Therapies
When patients with common terminal illnesses such as cancer seek permission for compassionate use of therapies in the testing stage, their requests often are approved. But those with more unusual illnesses say drug companies are rarely willing to provide access.
A Family Wellness Check: California Invests in Treating Parents and Children Together
The state will be the first to offer comprehensive counseling services to parents during pediatric visits as part of Medicaid.
Damage to Children’s Education — And Their Health — Could Last a Lifetime
Black and Hispanic students have lost up to 12 months of learning, which could lead to lower incomes and shorter, sicker lives.
Children and Covid: Journalists Explore Grief and Vaccine Side Effects
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
The WHO Didn’t Reverse Its Position on Kids and Covid Vaccines
The World Health Organization this week updated its guidance on children and covid vaccinations — but in a different way than alleged in a viral social media post.
Discretamente, Biden está transformando la red de seguridad de Medicaid
Los esfuerzos de Biden, que han sido eclipsados en gran medida por otras iniciativas económicas y de salud, representan un cambio abrupto en contra de todo lo que la administración Trump hizo para reducir el programa.
Biden Quietly Transforms Medicaid Safety Net
In a sharp shift from Trump-era policies, President Joe Biden looks at expanding Medicaid eligibility to new mothers, inmates and undocumented immigrants and adding services such as food and housing.
Miles de niños perdieron a sus padres por covid. ¿Adónde está la ayuda?
Más de 46,000 niños han perdido a uno o ambos padres a causa de covid desde febrero de 2020. Los sobrevivientes luchan por conseguir ayuda médica y financiera para superar el duelo.
Thousands of Young Children Lost Parents to Covid. Where’s Help for Them?
More than 46,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent to covid-19. Families say finding even basic grief counseling has been difficult and there’s been no coordinated effort to help these children access services or benefits.
Nurses and Docs at Long Beach Center ‘Consider It an Honor’ to Care for Migrant Children
Health care workers find it easy to empathize with Central American children after their painful journeys to the U.S.
Pandemia eleva el número de beneficiarios de Medicaid a más de 80 millones
Las últimas cifras de inscripción al Medicaid muestran que creció de 71,3 millones de miembros en febrero de 2020, cuando la pandemia comenzaba en los Estados Unidos, a 80,5 millones en enero, según un análisis de KFF de datos federales.
More Than 100 Missouri Schools Have Bought ‘Often Unproven’ Air-Cleaning Technology
Across Missouri, more than 100 schools have spent over $3.5 million — often at the taxpayers’ expense — snapping up ionization and other air-purifying devices in an attempt to keep kids safe from covid-19. But experts warn the largely unregulated technology hasn’t been thoroughly tested in classroom settings and is “often unproven.”
Pandemic Swells Medicaid Enrollment to 80 Million People, a ‘High-Water Mark’
More than 80 million Americans with low incomes were receiving health coverage through the federal-state program in January. The program now covers nearly 1 in 4 people nationwide.
