Latest News On Disparities

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Doctors Hesitate to Ask About Patients’ Immigration Status Despite New Florida Law

KFF Health News Original

Florida’s new immigration law requires hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status at admission and in emergency rooms, and report that information plus the cost of care for residents without legal status. Doctors and nurses who oppose the policy seem reluctant to criticize lawmakers for fear of political retribution.

Community With High Medical Debt Questions Its Hospitals’ Charity Spending

KFF Health News Original

Pueblo, Colorado, residents have higher-than-average medical debt, while the city’s two tax-exempt hospitals provide relatively low levels of charity care.

New Charleston Museum Nods to Historical Roots of US Health Disparities

KFF Health News Original

The $120 million International African American Museum that opened this week in Charleston, South Carolina, allows visitors to step back in history at Gadsden’s Wharf, where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans arrived in America, the genesis of generations of health disparities.

Escasez crónica de salvavidas resalta desigualdades raciales

KFF Health News Original

Cuando las autoridades locales toman decisiones sobre el cierre de piscinas o la reducción de horarios, lo hacen sabiendo que la natación tiene un tenso historial de desigualdades raciales.

Cardiovascular Disease Is Primed to Kill More Older Adults, Especially Blacks and Hispanics

KFF Health News Original

Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer of older Americans, with Black and Hispanic people at higher risk. Despite medical advances, researchers say, disparities are expected to worsen in the coming decades.

La enfermedad cardiovascular podría matar a más adultos mayores hispanos

KFF Health News Original

El dramático envejecimiento de la población de Estados Unidos y el número creciente de personas con afecciones como hipertensión, diabetes y obesidad —que aumentan el riesgo cardíaco— se espera que contribuyan a este escenario alarmante.

Study Reveals Staggering Toll of Being Black in America: 1.6M Excess Deaths Over 22 Years

KFF Health News Original

The profound and painful loss — 80 million years of life, compared with the white population — is a call to action to improve the health of Black Americans, especially infants, mothers, and seniors, researchers say.

Students in Rural Colorado Are Left Without Options as Specialized Schools Close

KFF Health News Original

A new state law aims to keep the doors open at schools that accept students with intensive needs. One preteen in rural Colorado shows how the current system leaves some students bouncing between institutions far from home.

Gun Assault Rates Doubled for Children in 4 Major Cities During the Pandemic, New Data Shows

KFF Health News Original

A study of roughly 2,700 shootings in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia found that racial disparities in gun injuries and deaths widened during the covid-19 pandemic. Researchers looked only at assaults, excluding accidents or incidents of self-harm.

The Nation’s Health Secretary Has This Doctor on Call

KFF Health News Original

Carolina Reyes, a physician who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, says providers and health systems have a role in tackling systemic racism. She’s also married to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Truly Random Drug Testing: ADHD Patients Face Uneven Urine Screens and, Sometimes, Stigma

KFF Health News Original

Doctors have no national standards on when to order urine tests to check whether adult ADHD patients are properly taking their prescription stimulants. Some patients are subjected to much more frequent testing than others.

Fresh Produce Is an Increasingly Popular Prescription for Chronically Ill Patients

KFF Health News Original

Fresh produce prescription programs are getting a boost in Montana as a way of helping people with chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The approach may be a model for other rural states to promote healthy eating in food deserts.