Latest News On Kansas

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Patient, Beware: Some States Still Pushing Ineffective Covid Antibody Treatments

KFF Health News Original

The top 12 states using antibody therapies produced by Regeneron and Lilly — which research shows don’t work against the omicron variant — include several Southern states with some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, but also California, which ranks among the top 20 for fully vaccinated residents.

Quarantine and Tracing Rules Are All Over the Map for Students

KFF Health News Original

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers guidance but calls for localities to set quarantine rules for unvaccinated children exposed to someone with covid-19. That’s led to a pandemic patchwork of rules.

Cómo las comunidades rurales están perdiendo sus farmacias

KFF Health News Original

Las farmacias de las esquinas, que alguna vez estuvieron tanto en las grandes ciudades como en los pueblos rurales, están desapareciendo de muchas áreas del país, dejando a unos 41 millones de estadounidenses en lo que se conoce como “desiertos de farmacias”, sin fácil acceso a las farmacias.

How Rural Communities Are Losing Their Pharmacies

KFF Health News Original

More than 1,000 independent rural pharmacies have closed since 2003, leaving 630 communities with no retail drugstore. As 41 million people stuck in pharmacy deserts make do, the remaining drugstores struggle to survive.

Firefighters on Front Lines, No Strangers to Risk, Push Back Against Covid Vaccine Mandates

KFF Health News Original

Among the people still reluctant to get vaccinated — and pushing against mandates — are firefighters, many of whom also respond to medical calls as paramedics and EMTs and have witnessed the ravages of the pandemic firsthand.

Bye-Bye to Health Insurance ‘Birthday Rule’? Kansas Lawmaker Floats Fix

KFF Health News Original

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.

Firefighters — ‘Health Care Providers on a Truck’ — Signal Pandemic Burnout

KFF Health News Original

Grappling with stagnant pay and a lack of personal protective equipment, firefighters are even more frustrated to find they are lower down the vaccine priority list than health care workers despite serving on the front lines of the medical system.

States Aim to Chip Away at Abortion Rights With Supreme Court in Mind

KFF Health News Original

Legislatures in conservative-leaning states across the country are pushing bills that would restrict abortion and, with a conservative Supreme Court in place, could erode abortion protections under Roe v. Wade.

Baby Blues: First-Time Parents Blindsided by ‘the Birthday Rule’ and a $207,455 NICU Bill

KFF Health News Original

Charlie Kjelshus needed neonatal intensive care for the first seven days of her life. The episode generated huge bills, and left her parents in a tangle of red tape that involved two insurers, two hospitals and two states.

Rural Areas Send Their Sickest Patients to Cities, Straining Hospitals

KFF Health News Original

Critically ill rural patients are often sent to city hospitals for high-level treatment, and as their numbers grow, some urban hospitals are buckling under the added strain. Meanwhile, mask-wearing and other pandemic prevention measures remain spotty in rural counties.

‘No Mercy’ Chapter 7: After a Rural Town Loses Hospital, Is a Health Clinic Enough?

KFF Health News Original

In Fort Scott, Kansas, the Community Health Center’s big green-and-white sign replaced Mercy Hospital’s name on the front of the town’s massive medical building. In the final chapter of Season One: “No Mercy,” we have an appointment to see what’s inside.

Poor and Minority Children With Food Allergies Overlooked and in Danger

KFF Health News Original

Having a child with a food allergy is terrifying for any parent, but for low-income families such allergies can be especially deadly. Food assistance programs and food pantries rarely take allergies into account. And access to specialists, support groups and lifesaving epinephrine can be hard to attain. This especially hurts low-income Black children, who have higher incidences of allergies to corn, wheat and soy than white kids.

‘No Mercy’ Chapter 5: With Rural Hospital Gone, Cancer Care Means a Daylong Trek

KFF Health News Original

The hunt for good cancer treatment often means miles on the road, time spent waiting and exhaustion from treatment and transit. “The further you have to travel to get care, the less likely that you are going to take that effort to do that,” said Boban Mathew, an oncologist in southeastern Kansas.