Public Health Archives - Page 25 of 184

Too Big To Fail? Now It’s ‘Too Big To Hack’

Episode 343

April 18, 2024

Congress this week had the chance to formally air grievances over the cascading consequences of the Change Healthcare cyberattack, and lawmakers from both major parties agreed on one culprit: consolidation in health care. Plus, about a year after states began stripping people from their Medicaid rolls, a new survey shows nearly a quarter of adults who were disenrolled are now uninsured. Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews Caroline Pearson of the Peterson Health Technology Institute.

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A photo illustration shows a black and white diagram of lungs superimposed over an old chromolithograph illustration of tuberculosis bacteria. The illustration in bordered by a dark black circle.

The Path to a Better Tuberculosis Vaccine Runs Through Montana

Researchers at the University of Montana have pitched in to develop a more effective vaccine in the fight against an ancient disease that still kills an estimated 1.6 million people a year worldwide.

By Jim Robbins

April 18, 2024

A woman in a backwards blue cap and matching blue sweat jacket hands out Narcan door to door

To Stop Fentanyl Deaths in Philadelphia, Knocking on Doors and Handing Out Overdose Kits

Facing widening racial disparities in overdose deaths, Philadelphia officials are sending workers and volunteers to knock on doors across the city, aiming to equip households with naloxone and other drug overdose prevention supplies. City officials hope a proactive approach will normalize naloxone as an everyday item in people’s medicine cabinets and prevent overdoses, especially among Black residents.

By Nicole Leonard, WHYY

April 17, 2024

Katherine Goodlow holds a brown puppy outside her grandmother's home.

Native Americans Have Shorter Life Spans. Better Health Care Isn’t the Only Answer.

Social services, such as parenting classes and economic development programs, can help increase the life spans of Native Americans, some health experts say. But insurers don’t always cover these services.

By Arielle Zionts

April 17, 2024

A sign with text that reads, "Vote NO on Fluoridation."

As Bans Spread, Fluoride in Drinking Water Divides Communities Across the US

The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing fluoride has some community leaders arguing that its addition to public drinking water is no longer necessary. But public health experts worry that, much like vaccines, fluoridation may be a victim of its own success.

By Melba Newsome

April 12, 2024

KFF Health News On Air

Journalists Assess the Risks of Bird Flu and the Impacts of Medicaid ‘Unwinding’

KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

April 6, 2024

A woman holds a heat and humidity index device in her hand, facing towards the camera.

Heat Protections for California Workers Are in Limbo After Newsom Abandons Rules

Proposed rules to protect millions of workers from potentially dangerous heat inside workplaces are dead after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration refused to sign off. Labor advocates and state regulators are calling for emergency regulations before temperatures soar this summer.

By Angela Hart and Samantha Young

April 3, 2024

Payback: Tracking Opioid Cash

Track Opioid Settlement Payouts — To the Cent — In Your Community

Want to know how much opioid settlement money your city, county, or state has received so far? Or how much it's expecting in the future? Use our new searchable database to find out.

By Aneri Pattani, Lydia Zuraw, and Holly K. Hacker

April 2, 2024

A card for the California State University-San Bernardino’s Student Health Center. It lists services, such as "Vaccinations, on site pharmacy, primary care services, and reproductive care."

California Universities Are Required to Offer Abortion Pills. Many Just Don’t Mention It.

One year after California became the first state to require public universities to provide abortion pills to students, LAist found that basic information for students to obtain the medication is often nonexistent.

By Jackie Fortiér, LAist and Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, LAist

April 2, 2024

Three vials of different covid-19 vaccines, from left to right: Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech.

Four Years After Shelter-in-Place, Covid-19 Misinformation Persists

False claims that covid vaccines cause deaths and other diseases are still prevalent despite multiple studies showing the vaccines are safe and saved lives.

By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, PolitiFact

April 1, 2024

KFF Health News On Air

Journalists Dig Into Measles, Abortion Access, and Medicaid Expansion

KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

March 30, 2024

Céline Gounder, wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, white T-shirt, and backpack, stands beside Delowar Hossain, a former smallpox eradication worker. He has a long white beard and wears a loose peach-colored long-sleeved shirt. They both smile at the camera. In the background, a sunset highlights pillowy clouds in warm shades of pale yellow that contrast with bits of blue sky.

Perspective

A Physician Travels to South Asia Seeking Enduring Lessons From the Eradication of Smallpox

Physician and podcast host Céline Gounder traveled to India and Bangladesh and brought back never-before-heard stories, many from public health workers whose voices have been missing from the record documenting the eradication of smallpox.

By Céline Gounder

March 29, 2024

What the Health? From KFF Health News

The ACA Turns 14

Episode 339

March 21, 2024

Saturday marks the 14th anniversary of the still somewhat embattled Affordable Care Act. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joins host Julie Rovner to discuss the accomplishments of the health law — and the challenges it still faces. Also this week, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Mary Agnes Carey of KFF Health News join Rovner to discuss what should be the final funding bill for HHS for fiscal 2024, next week’s Supreme Court oral arguments in a case challenging abortion medication, and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.

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A woman in a blue shirt and mask stands in front of a car parked along a dirt road

Rapid Rise in Syphilis Hits Native Americans Hardest

With U.S. syphilis rates climbing to the worst level in seven decades, public health experts and the federal Indian Health Service are scrambling to detect and treat the disease in Native American communities, where babies are infected at a higher rate than in any other demographic.

By Cecilia Nowell

March 21, 2024

Derrick Cordero sits in a chair in the center of the photograph. He rests his hands on his knees and looks directly towards the camera with a smile.

Faces of Medi-Cal

Amid Mental Health Staffing Crunch, Medi-Cal Patients Help One Another

Peer leaders can help ease the shortage of mental health providers and build trust through shared experiences, state health officials say. In 2022, California started allowing counties to use Medicaid dollars to pay them for their work.

By Indira Khera

March 19, 2024

Public health workers, doctors, and nurses protest outside a New York City hospital, holding signs. A doctor, wearing a face mask and white coat, is photographed in the center of a crowd. He holds a sign that reads, "If we works ick, you get sick. #PPENOW"

Health Workers Fear It’s Profits Before Protection as CDC Revisits Airborne Transmission

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.

By Amy Maxmen

March 19, 2024

William Haleck (right) sits on a couch beside his wife, Verdell (left) with his arm around her. They both hold a photo of their son, Sheldon, in their lap and look solemnly down towards the picture.

As More States Target Disavowed ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis, Police Groups Push Back

After California passed the first law in the nation to limit the disavowed term “excited delirium,” bills in other states are being introduced to help end use of the diagnosis. But momentum is being met with resistance from law enforcement and first responder groups, who cite free speech.

By Renuka Rayasam

March 18, 2024

An aerial view of a highway near downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.

A New Orleans Neighborhood Confronts the Racist Legacy of a Toxic Stretch of Highway

New federal funds aim to address an array of problems created by highway construction in minority neighborhoods. These are economic, social, and, perhaps above all, public health problems. In New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood, competing plans for how to deal with harm done by the Claiborne Expressway reveal the challenge of how to mitigate them meaningfully.

By Drew Hawkins, Gulf States Newsroom

March 15, 2024

What the Health? From KFF Health News

Maybe It’s a Health Care Election After All

Episode 338

March 14, 2024

Health care wasn’t expected to be a major theme for this year’s elections. But as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump secured their respective party nominations this week, the future of both Medicare and the Affordable Care Act appears to be up for debate. Meanwhile, the cyberattack of the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Change Healthcare continues to do damage to the companies’ finances with no quick end in sight. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kelly Henning of Bloomberg Philanthropies about a new, four-part documentary series on the history of public health, “The Invisible Shield.” Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too.

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The Injured

They Were Injured at the Super Bowl Parade. A Month Later, They Feel Forgotten.

In the first of our series “The Injured,” a Kansas family remembers Valentine’s Day as the beginning of panic attacks, life-altering trauma, and waking to nightmares of gunfire. Thrown into the spotlight by the shootings, they wonder how they will recover.

By Bram Sable-Smith and Peggy Lowe, KCUR

March 14, 2024

Trump 2.0

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