Health Care Helpline
Health Care Helpline helps you navigate the hurdles between you and good care. This crowdsourced project is from NPR and KFF Health News.
The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Health Care Helpline helps you navigate the hurdles between you and good care. This crowdsourced project is from NPR and KFF Health News.
HealthQ is a health series from reporters Cara Anthony and Blake Farmer, approachable guides to an unapproachable health care system. It’s a collaboration between Nashville Public Radio and KFF Health News.
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Local health officials have become the face of government authority as they work to stem the pandemic. That has made them targets for chilling threats from some of the same militia groups that stormed the U.S. Capitol. Santa Cruz leaders are among those whose daily routines now incorporate security patrols, surveillance cameras and, in some cases, firearms.
Generous personal injury coverage on your car policy may not be enough to cover medical bills. Patients can get financially blindsided when auto insurance and health insurance policies differ.
Scientists who study the post-illness syndrome are taking a close look at patients' reports of this unexpected benefit of the vaccine.
Fort Scott, Kansas, was hit hard by the pandemic, and it no longer has a hospital. But residents remain skeptical about the impact of the coronavirus.
Same building. Same procedure. Same doctor. But now you’re charged a hospital facility fee. For one Ohio Medicare patient, the copay for a shot that used to cost her about $30 went up to more than $300.
The Tuskegee syphilis study is often cited as a reason Black Americans might hesitate to take the covid-19 vaccine. But many people say that current racism in health care and lack of access deserve more attention to move more Black Americans toward vaccine protection.
As the speed of covid vaccinations picks up, so do the reports of doses going to waste. Health officials are trying to rein in waste without slowing down vaccinations.
Covid-19 has now killed more Americans than World War II did. That fact helps some people put the viral death toll in perspective, while others find it offensive.
Glitchy websites, jammed phone lines and long lines outside clinics are commonplace as states expand who’s eligible to be vaccinated. The oldest Americans and those without caregivers and computer skills are at a distinct disadvantage.
Corporations like Starbucks, Honeywell, Microsoft, Costco and Google are lining up to help with vaccine logistics. But the problem of the moment is supply, not systems.
In most Tennessean counties, residents currently eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine are health care workers, long-term care residents and people 75 and older. But don't expect strict enforcement.
Harborview Medical Center was at the epicenter of the first wave of coronavirus in the U.S. Staffers have a better understanding of the disease as cases surge, but fatigue and a lack of backup staff are big challenges.
Hospitals across the country are struggling as staffers get infected with the coronavirus. It's especially tough for small, rural hospitals, where even one doctor out sick can upend patient capacity.
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.
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.
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’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.”
An analysis of location data from 30 million smartphones found that facilities across the country that share the most workers also had the most COVID-19 infections. The "Kevin Bacon of nursing homes" in each state — the one with the most staffers working at other nursing homes — was likely to have the worst outbreaks of coronavirus contagion.
A survey of 17 cities found more than 50,000 pandemic-related eviction filings. Housing advocates worry that increased housing instability will lead to more COVID-19 and other illnesses.
Daniel Prude’s family knew he needed psychiatric care and tried to get it for him. Instead, his encounter with police hours after he was released from Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, proved fatal.
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