Latest News On Disparities

Latest KFF Health News Stories

COVID-19 Batters A Beloved Bay Area Community Health Care Center

KFF Health News Original

Health clinics in isolated African American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area provide crucial services to neglected populations. But like thousands of other community clinics around the nation, their finances have been wrecked by the pandemic shutdown.

Baltimore’s ‘Squeegee Boys’: ‘If We Don’t Go Out, We Don’t Eat’

KFF Health News Original

The federal government’s relief package left behind many of America’s poorest workers struggling to make ends meet as the coronavirus ravaged and unemployment rose. Baltimore’s “squeegee boys” are among them.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Protests And The Pandemic

KFF Health News Original

The outrage over the death of an African American man, George Floyd, after he was restrained and knelt on by Minneapolis police officers has sparked national protests, including in places where the coronavirus is still spreading. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s attempt to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization could have ramifications for Americans. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Mary Agnes Carey of KHN and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews Jonathan Oberlander, a University of North Carolina health policy professor and the editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, about articles examining the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of health inequity and structural racism.

Efforts To Curb Congenital Syphilis Falter In COVID’s Shadow

KFF Health News Original

A new federal report sheds light on the reasons newborn syphilis rates are on the rise despite simple treatment options. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, public health departments will struggle to respond.

‘Why Do We Always Get Hit First?’ Proposed Budget Cuts Target Vulnerable Californians

KFF Health News Original

Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.

As COVID Cuts Deadly Path Through Indiana Prisons, Inmates Say Symptoms Ignored

KFF Health News Original

Since the start of the pandemic, prisoners and their families have contradicted state officials about the conditions inside Indiana prisons. Many inmates report they’ve had no way to protect themselves from close contact with other inmates and staff members. They believe contracting the coronavirus is inevitable.

Racial Status And The Pandemic: A Combustible Mixture

KFF Health News Original

The novel coronavirus is affecting black Americans disproportionately, which some community leaders and public health experts say is not surprising. So why didn’t anyone sound an alarm?

Free Clinics Try To Fill Gaps As COVID Sweeps Away Job-Based Insurance

KFF Health News Original

The volunteer medical providers at the Tree of Life Free Clinic in Tupelo, Mississippi, give crucial health care to the uninsured in the best of times, drawing crowds who line up for hours. Amid the current COVID pandemic, clinic staffers were advised to close. Instead, they chose to adapt — even without critical N95 masks to protect themselves — as the economic crisis intensifies the need for free care.

Long-Standing Racial And Income Disparities Seen Creeping Into COVID-19 Care

KFF Health News Original

Many health officials around the nation have not released data on the ethnic and racial demographics of people tested for the new coronavirus. But public health experts said the anecdotes are adding up, and they fear the response to the pandemic will result in predictable health care disparities.