Latest KFF Health News Stories
Montana Clinics That Provide Abortions Preemptively Restrict Pill Access for Out-of-State Patients
Montana is an island of legal abortion, but three of the state’s five clinics are limiting access to abortion pills for out-of-state patients in an effort to protect themselves and patients from legal attacks.
Senate Deal Raises Hopes for a Reduction in Gun Suicides
A bipartisan U.S. Senate agreement on guns that focuses on mental health raises hopes and doubts in rural Western states with high suicide rates and easy access to guns.
A un año de recibir millones del gobierno federal, los estados apenas han comenzado a pensar cómo utilizar el dinero que recibieron para zanjar la desigualdad en salud que generó, y agravó, la pandemia.
States Have Yet to Spend Hundreds of Millions of Federal Dollars to Tackle Covid Health Disparities
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.
What’s Next if ‘Roe v. Wade’ Falls? More Than Half of States Expected to Ban or Restrict Abortion
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.
State Constitutions Vex Conservatives’ Strategies for a Post-Roe World
Conservative lawmakers may find their anti-abortion agendas complicated by state constitutions that explicitly grant citizens the right to privacy, regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court does.
Local Pharmacists Fill Rx Void as Big Brands Pull Out of Rural Areas
Stores like Walmart and Shopko opened pharmacies in small towns, either buying out the local pharmacy or driving it out of business. What happens when those chains later withdraw, leaving communities with no pharmacy?
Hospitals Refused to Give Patients Ivermectin. Lockdowns and Political Pressure Followed.
Hospitals in Montana and Idaho reported threats and harassment from public officials and family members of patients who were denied treatment with a drug not authorized to treat covid-19.
Más de la mitad de los estados han revertido poderes de salud pública durante la pandemia
Motivados por votantes enojados por los cierres y los mandatos sobre el uso de máscaras durante la pandemia, legisladores republicanos en más de la mitad de los estados de EE.UU. están quitando los poderes que los funcionarios estatales y locales usan para proteger al público contra las enfermedades infecciosas
Over Half of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers in Pandemic
At least 26 states have passed laws to permanently limit public health powers, a KHN investigation has found, weakening the country’s ability to fight not only the current resurgence of the pandemic but other health crises to come.
Stark Racial Disparities Persist in Vaccinations, State-Level CDC Data Shows
Black Americans’ vaccination rates still trail all other groups, while Hispanics show improvement. Native Americans show the strongest rates nationally.
What Childhood Vaccine Rates Can, and Can’t, Teach Us About Covid Vaccines
Hesitancy toward routine childhood vaccines doesn’t necessarily predict hesitancy toward a covid shot.
‘We’re Not Controlling It in Our Schools’: Covid Safety Lapses Abound Across US
As President Biden calls for more support to help schools hold in-person classes, public health experts say schools can be relatively safe if they take well-known steps to prevent covid. But a KHN investigation shows many districts and states have ignored health advice or written their own questionable safety rules for schools.
A Fair to Remember: County Fairs Weigh Risk of Outbreak Against Financial Ruin
The threat of COVID-19 forced many county fairs to cancel this year. But some rural communities that depend on the annual economic and cultural boost decided to go ahead despite a pattern of outbreaks.
Obamacare Co-Ops Down From 23 to Final ‘3 Little Miracles’
Once there were 23 of these nonprofit plans across 26 states; in January there will be only three, serving Maine, Wisconsin, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
COVID Plans Put to Test as Firefighters Crowd Camps for Peak Wildfire Season
Thousands of firefighters from across the U.S. have converged on the West as the wildfire season enters its peak. The inherently dangerous job now carries the additional risk of COVID-19 transmission, and fire managers are adapting their plans for crowded fire camps in the hope of preventing outbreaks that could sideline crews and weaken the nation’s firefighting infrastructure.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ A ‘Healthy’ State Of The Union
Health was a featured player in President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address. The president set goals to bring down prescription drug prices, end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. and cure childhood cancer, among other things. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Alice Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and, for “extra credit,” provide their favorite health policy stories of the week. Rovner also interviews KHN senior correspondent Phil Galewitz about the current “Bill of the Month” feature.
Utah and Idaho Lawmakers Seek To Scale Back Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansions
The legislators say that despite voter support for expansion, they are concerned that a change in the Medicaid program will be a financial burden for the states.
Midterm Election Boosts Medicaid Expansion, But Challenges Remain
Following the vote, nearly 500,000 uninsured adults in five states are poised to gain Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, say advocates. But many conservatives remain opposed to the expansion.
Gun Store Owner Marshals Voters To Expand Medicaid In Idaho
Idaho is one of four conservative states where voters next month will determine whether to buck the GOP’s resistance to the Affordable Care Act and implement or renew its expansion of Medicaid to adults.
