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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVID’s Next Round

KFF Health News Original

As the coronavirus surges around the country, workers in nursing homes and assisted living centers are watching cases rise in long-term care facilities with a sense of dread. Many of these workers struggle with grief over the suffering they’ve witnessed.

Prayers and Grief Counseling After COVID: Trying to Aid Healing in Long-Term Care

KFF Health News Original

With employees emotionally drained and residents suffering from loss, many nursing homes and assisted living centers are working with chaplains, social workers and mental health professionals to help people deal with the effects of the coronavirus.

Black Hair Matters: How Going Natural Made Me Visible

KFF Health News Original

How do we as Black people protect ourselves from racism? In our household, my decision to let my hair go natural forced my father and me to have a conversation about personal safety, the police and my desire to feel free. He viewed my permed hair and weave as a protective shield that increased my chances of making it home safely. But, in reality, my haircut — long or short — can’t protect me from racism.

Stanford vs. Harvard: Two Famous Biz Schools’ Opposing Tactics on COVID

KFF Health News Original

While the Harvard Business School gently chided returnees to be on their best behavior, Stanford deployed green-vested enforcers and campus police who sometimes threatened students if they violated the rules. Both, apparently, succeeded.

Clots, Strokes and Rashes: Is COVID a Disease of the Blood Vessels?

KFF Health News Original

COVID-19 can cause symptoms that go well beyond the lungs, from strokes to organ failure. To explain these widespread injuries, researchers are studying how the virus affects the vascular system.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Transition Interrupted

KFF Health News Original

Former Vice President Joe Biden is now the president-elect nearly everywhere but inside the Trump administration, where the president refuses to concede and has ordered officials not to begin a formal transition. That is a particular problem for health care as the COVID-19 pandemic surges. Meanwhile, there’s good news on the vaccine front, but it’s unlikely one will arrive by winter. And the ACA was back before the Supreme Court — again. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Shefali Luthra of the 19th News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week they think you should read, too.

Nursing Homes Still See Dangerously Long Waits for COVID Test Results

KFF Health News Original

The Trump administration hailed rapid tests as the way to halt COVID’s spread in nursing homes. A KHN analysis of federal data shows they’re not being used, as questions linger about accuracy and best practices.

When False Information Goes Viral, COVID-19 Patient Groups Fight Back

KFF Health News Original

Fear and uncertainty about the coronavirus have made online patient support groups fertile ground for the spread of misinformation. But some in these groups make fact-checking a part of the mission to support fellow COVID sufferers.

Crooked Media and KHN’s ‘No Mercy’ Dissect Fallout After Rural Hospital Shuts

KFF Health News Original

Crooked Media’s “America Dissected” explores the rural health crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Podcast guest KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal said: “I expect we’ll see a lot more rural hospital failures.”

California Stands to Lose Big if US Supreme Court Cancels Obamacare

KFF Health News Original

California has more at stake than any other state should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people could lose their health coverage and the state could lose billions in federal money each year.

Listen: The ACA in Court Again

KFF Health News Original

KHN’s Julie Rovner joins public radio station KQED in California to discuss the stakes in the latest case challenging whether the Affordable Care Act is constitutional.