Congressman Off-Base in Ad Claiming Fauci Shipped Covid to Montana Before the Pandemic
By Katheryn Houghton
February 5, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Facts don’t support claims by a likely Republican Senate candidate that a federal research laboratory in Montana infected bats with a coronavirus from China before the covid-19 outbreak.
Watch: Anthony Fauci Defends Feds’ Covid Response, Calling Lawmakers’ Accusations ‘Preposterous’
By Hannah Norman
June 4, 2024
KFF Health News Original
At a June 3 congressional hearing that underscored the nation’s deep political divide over the coronavirus pandemic response, the longtime National Institutes of Health official addressed the agency’s controversies head-on.
Public Health Departments Face a Post-Covid Funding Crash
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
October 16, 2024
KFF Health News Original
During the coronavirus pandemic, states received a rush of funding from the federal government to bolster their fight against the disease. In many cases, that cash flowed into state and local health departments, fueling a staffing surge to handle, among other things, contact tracing and vaccination efforts. But public health leaders quickly identified a familiar […]
Health Workers Warn Loosening Mask Advice in Hospitals Would Harm Patients and Providers
By Amy Maxmen
September 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Clinicians, researchers, and workplace safety officers worry new guidelines on face masks from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might reduce protection against the coronavirus and other airborne pathogens in hospitals.
How the Mixed Messaging of Vaccine Skeptics Sows Seeds of Doubt
By Darius Tahir
June 8, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Some GOP members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic have two-stepped around vaccine skepticism, proclaiming themselves to be pro-vaccine while also validating the beliefs of people who oppose vaccine mandates. The result could have serious public health consequences.
After Grilling an NIH Scientist Over Covid Emails, Congress Turns to Anthony Fauci
By David Hilzenrath
May 31, 2024
KFF Health News Original
In a trove of emails brought to light through a congressional probe, a former close adviser to longtime National Institutes of Health official Anthony Fauci spoke of hiding messages from public disclosure.
Is Novavax, the Latecomer Covid Vaccine, Worth the Wait?
By Amy Maxmen
November 20, 2023
KFF Health News Original
People with special medical considerations are hoping the Novavax shot will bring fewer headaches, fevers, and less fatigue than have been reported by those taking mRNA vaccines.
Nikki Haley (And Her Opponents) Struggle With a Vaccine Message
By Darius Tahir
November 21, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley portrays herself as a voice of reason in the Republican Party. “Let’s find consensus,” she said about abortion during the first GOP primary debate. “Let’s treat this like a respectful issue.” It’s talk like that — and strong polling in a hypothetical matchup against President Biden — that has […]
California Dabbles With Reining in Health Spending
By Bernard J. Wolfson
June 12, 2024
KFF Health News Original
California is now among the states trying to keep health-care costs down by setting spending caps — a task that pits public officials against a deeply entrenched and heavily lawyered set of players. It’s uncertain whether the state can get insurers, hospitals and medical groups to collaborate on containing costs even as they jockey for […]
Forget Repeal and Replace. The Next Big ACA Fight Will Be Over Subsidies.
By Julie Appleby
September 12, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Forget repeal and replace. Critics of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, have a new target: key parts of the law that they say are too costly and provide incentive for fraud. Topping that list are the ACA’s enhanced subsidies, put in place during the coronavirus pandemic as part of economic recovery legislation and set to […]
Federal Budget Constraints May Hurt Older Americans With HIV
By Sam Whitehead
June 26, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Researchers say that by the end of the decade, 70 percent of people in the United States living with HIV will be older than 50. Thanks to advances in medicine, the diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. “I’ve been fortunate to take care of some people with HIV for over 30 years,” said Melanie Thompson, a physician […]
Health Workers Fear It’s Profits Before Protection as CDC Revisits Airborne Transmission
By Amy Maxmen
March 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Four years since the covid pandemic emerged, health care workers want rules that protect them during outbreaks. They worry the CDC is repeating past mistakes as it develops a crucial set of guidelines for hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other facilities that provide health care.
California Says It Can No Longer Afford Aid for Covid Testing, Vaccinations for Migrants
By Don Thompson
February 22, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Gov. Gavin Newsom is winding down state assistance for health care services to migrants seeking asylum. He’s lobbying the Biden administration to increase aid along the state’s southern border.
Rural Americans Are Way More Likely To Die Young. Why?
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
April 15, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Three words are commonly repeated to describe rural America and its residents: older, sicker and poorer. Obviously, there’s a lot more going on in the nation’s towns than that tired stereotype suggests. But a new report from the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service gives credence to the “sicker” part of the trope. Rural Americans ages […]
Relieving the Growing Burden of Medical Debt
By Molly Castle Work
July 11, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Medical debt is a growing burden for millions of people around the country, from parents in Illinois to immigrants in Colorado to residents of the “Diabetes Belt” across the South, and it’s now being recognized as a health-care problem. People often forgo care or prescriptions if they have debt, according to a KFF Health News […]
A State-Sanctioned Hospital Monopoly Raises Concerns
By Brett Kelman and Samantha Liss
March 28, 2024
KFF Health News Original
The Federal Trade Commission has long argued that competition makes the economy better. But some states have stopped the agency from blocking hospital mergers that create local or regional monopolies, and the results have been messy. Two dozen states have at some point passed controversial legislation waiving anti-monopoly laws, allowing rival hospitals to merge and replacing competition […]
California Pays People With Addiction To Stay Clean — With Feds’ Blessing
By Angela Hart
May 22, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Led by California, a few states are testing an experimental program that pays people to stop using hard drugs. The Golden State was the first to win approval from the Biden administration to cover the sobriety payments, with Medicaid wrapping it into an ambitious health-care initiative spearheaded by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide the […]
A Little-Recognized Public Health Crisis
By Vanessa G. Sánchez
July 17, 2024
KFF Health News Original
About every 12 minutes, someone is killed on America’s roads and countless others are injured. More than 42,500 people died in car crashes in 2022, a death toll that rivals or surpasses those of other major public health threats, such as the flu and gun violence. “We have not recognized that traffic violence is a […]
Four Years After Shelter-in-Place, Covid-19 Misinformation Persists
By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, PolitiFact
April 1, 2024
KFF Health News Original
False claims that covid vaccines cause deaths and other diseases are still prevalent despite multiple studies showing the vaccines are safe and saved lives.
How Fringe Anti-Science Views Infiltrated Mainstream Politics — And What It Means in 2024
By Amy Maxmen
January 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Opposition to vaccines and other public health measures backed by science has become politically charged. That makes dangerous misinformation much harder to fight.