Latest KFF Health News Stories
A Medical Sanctuary For Migrant Farmworkers
A former farmworker, now a doctor, runs two clinics in California’s Central Valley providing care — often free of charge — for migrants who don’t have money and are deeply worried about the federal government’s hard-line stance on immigration.
As ER Wait Times Grow, More Patients Leave Against Medical Advice
Crowded emergency rooms are likely to blame. In 2017, the median ER wait time for patients before admission as inpatients to California hospitals was 336 minutes — or more than 5½ hours.
Newsom Changes Course On Plan To Pay For Immigrant Health Coverage
California’s governor Friday scuttled his plan to siphon public health money from four counties to help provide health coverage for unauthorized immigrants ages 19 through 25.
‘John Doe’ Patients Sometimes Force Hospital Staff To Play Detective
A large public hospital in Los Angeles gets over 1,000 unidentified patients a year. Most are quickly identified, but some require considerable gumshoe work — a task that can be complicated by medical privacy laws.
State Bans Pesticide Linked To Developmental Problems
California officials announced a ban on chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that has been linked to lower IQs, lower birth weights and other developmental issues in children, even as the federal government fights to protect it.
Estados debaten prohibir popular pesticida que afectaría el desarrollo infantil
Varios estudios han relacionado la exposición prenatal al clorpirifos con disminución de peso al nacer, bajo coeficiente intelectual, déficit de atención y otros problemas de desarrollo en niños.
States Weigh Banning A Widely Used Pesticide Even Though EPA Won’t
The pesticide chlorpyrifos has been linked to developmental problems in children. Some state and federal lawmakers want the chemical banned, but federal regulators are fighting to keep it on the market.
The Homeless Are Dying In Record Numbers On The Streets Of L.A.
Deaths of homeless people in Los Angeles County have jumped 76% in the past five years, outpacing the growth of the homeless population, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of the coroner’s data. Experts say drug and alcohol abuse are significant factors.
Destination Limbo: Health Suffers Among Asylum Seekers In Crowded Border Shelter
Asylum seekers from Mexico and Central America, housed in migrant shelters in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico, are often sick and exhausted from their long journeys. Volunteer health workers from Southern California recently sent a mobile clinic to one of those shelters and spent a day tending to its inhabitants.
Liver Illness Strikes Latino Children Like A ‘Silent Tsunami’
Potentially deadly fatty liver disease, linked to overconsumption of sugar in drinks and food, often starts in childhood. The goal: Get children to change their habits.
How To Fight ‘Scary’ Superbugs? Cooperation — And A Special Soap
Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois hope that regional cooperation — and a special soap — will help them gain the upper hand against deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
Heavy Rains, End Of Drought Could Help Keep West Nile Virus Subdued — For Now
Scientists say drought can spur transmission of the disease and that wetter winters since 2015 have helped reduce the number of infections in California. In the long term, however, climate change could mean more drought — and more infections.
Big Soda Pours Big Bucks Into California’s Capitol
The soda industry spent $11.8 million to influence policy statewide in 2017 and 2018. As politicians once again consider bills that would tax and label sugary drinks, more big money is expected to flow.
On The Border, Volunteer Doctors Struggle To Provide Stopgap Care To Immigrants
As recent arrivals are released from detention with severe medical problems ranging from diarrhea to gaping wounds, a makeshift health system of volunteers is overwhelmed. The work is taking a financial and emotional toll.
Finding Homeless Patients A Place To Heal
California hospitals must comply with a new state law that requires them to try to find a safe place for homeless patients upon discharge. But hospitals say doing so isn’t as easy as calling a shelter and securing a cot.
Does It Make Sense To Delay Children’s Vaccines?
The renewed squabble over vaccinations obscures a large group of parents who aren’t anti-vaxxers but spread out their children’s vaccines at a more gradual pace than doctors recommend. Pediatricians warn that could leave small children vulnerable to disease.
Students With Disabilities Call College Admissions Cheating ‘Big Slap In The Face’
Parents of students with legitimate learning disabilities worry that a backlash against providing special accommodations in college admissions testing could make it harder for them to succeed.
‘Medieval’ Diseases Flare As Unsanitary Living Conditions Proliferate
Outbreaks of infectious diseases such as typhus and hepatitis A are resurging in California and around the country, particularly among homeless populations. Public health officials warn that such diseases could spread broadly.
Detention Centers In California Lack Oversight And Proper Care, Reports Find
Health and safety problems at immigration detention facilities throughout California pose a serious risk to detainees, according to two reports released Tuesday. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and California State Auditor Elaine Howle concluded that federal and local governments are failing to adequately oversee the facilities, allowing the problems to persist.
The Measles Success Story In California Shows Signs Of Fading
California’s highly touted gains in vaccinating schoolchildren against measles stalled last year, possibly related to an increase in the number of students who have been exempted from vaccinations on medical grounds.
