Rural Dispatch: October 2024
A Few Rural Towns Are Bucking the Trend and Building New Hospitals
Sarah Jane Tribble
A remote Wyoming community hoped for years to have more access to health care. Now, after receiving federal funding, it is bucking dismal closure trends throughout the rural U.S. and building its own hospital. And it’s not the only one.
Harris’ Emphasis on Maternal Health Care Is Paying Dividends With Black Women Voters
Stephanie Armour
Polls are showing renewed support from Black women voters for the Democratic ticket. Vice President Kamala Harris has backed key health priorities for Black women.
More Restrooms Have Adult-Size Changing Tables To Help People With Disabilities
Tony Leys
Adults with disabilities and their caregivers are pressing governments and private businesses across the U.S. to help them avoid undignified public bathroom experiences.
Catholic Hospital Offered Bucket, Towels to Woman It Denied an Abortion, California AG Said
Molly Castle Work
In California, where abortion rights are guaranteed, there’s a loophole. The growth of Catholic hospital systems, which restrict reproductive health care, has left patients with no other option for care. That will be the case for pregnant women in Northern California, with a hospital set to close its birth center.
Colorado’s Naloxone Fund Is Drying Up, Even as Opioid Settlement Money Rolls In
Claire Cleveland
Since Colorado created a pool of money to pay for naloxone in 2019, it has distributed more than half a million doses of the opioid reversal drug to hundreds of organizations throughout the state. Now, its main funding stream is drying up.
California Hospitals Scramble on Earthquake Retrofits as State Limits Extensions
Annie Sciacca
California legislators for years have granted extensions on a 1994 law requiring hospitals to retrofit their buildings to withstand earthquakes. Gov. Gavin Newsom in September vetoed an extension for all hospitals but signed a bill granting relief to rural and “distressed” hospitals and some others.
More Mobile Clinics Are Bringing Long-Acting Birth Control to Rural Areas
Arielle Zionts
Small-town doctors may not offer IUDs and hormonal implants because the devices require training to administer and are expensive to stock.
Patients Are Relying on Lyft, Uber To Travel Far Distances to Medical Care
Michael Scaturro
Uber and Lyft have become a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure for transporting ailing people from their homes — even in rural areas — to medical care sites in major cities such as Atlanta.
California Continues Progressive Policies, With Restraint, in Divisive Election Year
Don Thompson
This legislative cycle, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills affirming reproductive rights and mandating insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, but the Democrat was reluctant to impose new regulations and frequently cited costs for vetoing bills.
Mountain Town Confronts an Unexpected Public Health Catastrophe
Kim Dinan
Flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene devastated communities around Asheville, North Carolina. A host of government programs are helping restore water, food, and medicine.
Medicare Drug Plans Are Getting Better Next Year. Some Will Also Cost More.
Susan Jaffe
Every year, Medicare officials encourage beneficiaries to shop around for their drug coverage. Few take the time. This year, it might be more important than ever.
Mothering Over Meds: Docs Say Common Treatment for Opioid-Exposed Babies Isn’t Necessary
Taylor Sisk
Amid what has been called the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic, doctors and researchers are walking back medication-heavy methods of treating babies born experiencing opioid withdrawal symptoms, replacing the regimen with the simplest care: parenting.
PBM Math: Big Chains Are Paid $23.55 To Fill a Blood Pressure Rx. Small Drugstores? $1.51.
Andy Miller
Criticism of prescription drug middlemen has intensified recently in the wake of a federal agency’s actions and legislative reform attempts. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, though, vetoed a related bill that would have helped independent pharmacies, citing the unfunded cost of the move.
Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu
Amy Maxmen
Emails show how health officials struggle to track the bird flu, partly in deference to the agricultural industry. As a result, researchers don’t know how often farmworkers are being infected — and could miss alarming signals.
Black Americans Still Suffer Worse Health. Here’s Why There’s So Little Progress.
Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam
The United States has made almost no progress in closing racial health disparities despite promises, research shows. The government, some critics argue, is often the underlying culprit.
How a Proposed Federal Heat Rule Might Have Saved These Workers’ Lives
Amy Maxmen
Laborers have suffered in extreme heat triggered by climate change. Deaths aren’t inevitable, researchers say: Employers can save lives by providing ample water and breaks.
Vance Wrongly Blames Rural Hospital Closures on Immigrants in the Country Illegally
Sam Whitehead
Experts disputed the claim by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, noting that a range of other issues — from low reimbursement rates to declining patient use — combine to cause these facilities to shutter.
Trauma Lives in the Body
Cara Anthony
Denzel Taylor, a young Black father, moved from Chicago to Sikeston, Missouri, for a fresh start in life. There, he proposed to his girlfriend, started a family, and then, in April 2020, was fatally shot by police officers. Taylor had two young daughters and another on the way when he was killed. Pediatrician Rhea Boyd talks about how children process such loss.
Is There a Cure for Racism?
Cara Anthony
In the finale of “Silence in Sikeston,” Black residents organize a Juneteenth barbecue. The Department of Public Safety chief encourages officers to attend to build trust. But improving relations between Sikeston’s Black community and the police won’t be easy. Host Cara Anthony discusses the possibility of institutional change in Sikeston.
Can Racism Make You Sick?
Dan Weissmann
In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann sits down with KFF Health News’ Cara Anthony to talk about the documentary and podcast series she produced about the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community. The project is called “Silence in Sikeston.”
Watch: ‘Silence in Sikeston & The Effects of Racial Violence’
Cara Anthony
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony talks about how racism affects health on Nine PBS’ “Listen, St. Louis with Carol Daniel,” stemming from her reporting for the “Silence in Sikeston” multimedia project, on the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community.
Watch: ‘Breaking the Silence Is a Step’ — Beyond the Lens of ‘Silence in Sikeston’
Cara Anthony
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony discusses her reporting for the “Silence in Sikeston” multimedia project, which explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community — and what it led her to learn about her own family’s past.
Watch: What You Reveal, You Heal — Meeting the Makers of ‘Silence in Sikeston’
Cara Anthony
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony sat down with WORLD executive producer Chris Hastings to discuss the origins of the “Silence in Sikeston” project, which explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing in the same rural Missouri community.