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Longer life spans, rising rates of divorce, widowhood, and childlessness, and smaller, far-flung families are fueling a “gray revolution” in older adults’ living arrangements. It can have profound health consequences.
As California cities crack down on homeless encampments in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling authorizing fines and arrests, front-line workers say such sweeps are undercutting billions in state and federal Medicaid spending meant to stabilize people’s health and get them off the streets.
State and local governments are struggling to keep up with the increasing burden of heat-related illness as summers get hotter because of climate change. In Missoula County, Montana, officials are working with researchers to understand trends in heat-related 911 calls.
The term “health equity” means different things to different people. Beyond guaranteeing all Americans access to adequate, affordable medical care, the pursuit of equity can include addressing social determinants of health, such as housing, education, and environment. Systemic and historical racism — manifested in over-policing or contaminated drinking water, for instance — can negatively affect health. In a live taping at the Texas Tribune Festival, special guests Carol Alvarado, the Texas state Senate’s Democratic leader, and Ann Barnes, president and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation, along with KFF Health News’ Sabriya Rice and Cara Anthony, join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss addressing health inequities.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has a plan to protect farmworkers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, but farmworkers who pick California grapes say they need more, as climate change brings more extreme weather.
An increasing number of Americans struggle with energy poverty, the inability to adequately heat or cool one’s dwelling. Health officials and climate experts are sounding the alarm as record-breaking heat sweeps the nation.
The Indian Health Service has a program that can pay for outside appointments when patients need care not offered at agency-funded sites. Critics say money shortages, complex rules, and administrative fumbles often block access, however.
State leaders are cutting public health spending and laying off workers hired during a pandemic-era grant boom. Public health officials say the bust will erode important advancements in the public health safety net, particularly in rural areas.
Pediatricians want to vaccinate kids, but some say they’re keeping their stockpile of covid vaccines low to avoid being stuck with costly, unwanted shots. They can’t afford to stock up on costly shots that parents don’t want.
A Colorado picnic celebrated Farmworker Appreciation Day. But some dairy workers there said they aren’t feeling appreciated: They don’t have basic protective gear, even as bird flu spreads through area farms.
In many places, victims of the opioid epidemic are silenced in decision-making about how to use opioid settlement money, a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by KFF Health News and Spotlight PA found.
Although public health officials recommend the newly approved covid vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, it may make more sense to wait until closer to the holiday season.
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in the last two weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Abortion and reproductive health issues headlined the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as expected. But what Vice President Kamala Harris has in mind for other health policies as the Democratic nominee remains something of a mystery. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump says he would not use the 19th-century Comstock Act to impose, in effect, a national ban on abortion, which angered his anti-abortion backers. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Tony Leys, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a woman who fought back after being charged for two surgeries despite undergoing only one.
The former president’s claim of 300,000 annual opioid deaths contradicts government statistics.
For years, federal lawmakers have failed to deliver the money needed to fix derelict public housing, leaving tenants — mostly people of color and families with low incomes — living with mold and gun violence that has had lasting health consequences.
New HIV diagnoses have decreased among Latinos in San Francisco, potentially marking the first time in five years that the group hasn’t accounted for the largest number of new cases. Public health experts express cautious optimism, but outreach workers warn that many Latinos still struggle to find testing and treatment.
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and state media this week to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
The end of pandemic-era Medicaid coverage protections coincided with changes in more than a dozen states to expand coverage for lower-income people, including children, pregnant women, and the incarcerated.
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