Must-Reads Of The Week
KHN senior correspondent Jordan Rau takes a spin through this week's essential health care news.
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KHN senior correspondent Jordan Rau takes a spin through this week's essential health care news.
Some California hospitals near the Mexican border have received so many COVID-19 patients the past few weeks that they have had to divert some to other facilities. Hospital officials say most of the infected patients are U.S. citizens or legal residents who live in, or recently traveled to, Mexico and came to the U.S. for care.
Some of Montana’s Native American nations are holding firm on coronavirus protections even as the rest of Montana reopens. They’ve got more at stake, they say, in protecting their elders who preserve their endangered culture.
The outrage over the death of an African American man, George Floyd, after he was restrained and knelt on by Minneapolis police officers has sparked national protests, including in places where the coronavirus is still spreading. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s attempt to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization could have ramifications for Americans. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Mary Agnes Carey of KHN and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews Jonathan Oberlander, a University of North Carolina health policy professor and the editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, about articles examining the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of health inequity and structural racism.
A new federal report sheds light on the reasons newborn syphilis rates are on the rise despite simple treatment options. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, public health departments will struggle to respond.
Courtrooms aren’t built for social distancing, and pandemics don’t offer ideal conditions for fulfilling the right to a speedy trial. But, eventually, every court in the nation will have to reckon with a return that may risk safety to some degree.
The COVID-19 pandemic is showcasing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership style to a national audience. The first-term Democrat doesn’t shy away from making splashy announcements and lofty promises, but his plans often lack detail and, in some cases, follow-through.
In areas hit hard by the coronavirus, such as Detroit, behavioral health care workers have been overburdened and forced to scale back services at the same time people battling mental health disorders became more stressed and anxious.
Amid questions about the accuracy of the COVID-19 antibody tests flooding the market — and the usefulness of the results they provide — the FDA has belatedly stepped in to try to rein in the chaos.
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 targets more than just the lungs. New research shows it also penetrates the brain, complicating treatment and risking lifelong damage. And the pandemic limits hospitals from running MRIs or other tests on coronavirus patients.
Police in multiple cities are using supposedly “nonlethal” crowd-control methods from rubber bullets to tear gas bombs to pepper-spray projectiles.
Experts estimate local and state health departments will have to hire 100,000 to 300,000 people as contact tracers to get the economy back on track. Many states are trying hard to hire from the racial and ethnic minority communities hit hardest by the virus.
Relaxed regulations in response to the pandemic means more access to addiction treatment medications. But recovery programs are accepting fewer people, and the danger of overdose remains high.
Last month, the Internal Revenue Service announced it would let employees add, drop or change some of their benefits for the remainder of 2020. The catch: Your employer has to allow the changes. KHN explains how it could work.
KHN executive editor Damon Darlin wades through mounds of health care policy stories — so you don’t have to.
Since the start of the pandemic, prisoners and their families have contradicted state officials about the conditions inside Indiana prisons. Many inmates report they've had no way to protect themselves from close contact with other inmates and staff members. They believe contracting the coronavirus is inevitable.
As a journalist, she wrote during the winter about the hostility shown toward Asian Americans for wearing masks. In May, she got cursed at for not wearing a mask herself.
Democrats were not impressed with the Trump administration’s COVID-19 national testing strategy document submitted to Congress this week. They say the pandemic requires more direction from the federal government, while the administration wants to give nearly all the responsibility to the states. Meanwhile, in an effort to shore up his base of senior voters, President Donald Trump has unveiled a plan to limit what those on Medicare must pay out-of-pocket for insulin. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Erin Mershon of STAT News and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Phil Galewitz, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment about a patient who thought he might have COVID-19, did everything right and got a big bill, anyway.
The overall crime rate has dropped during the pandemic, but unfortunately gun violence has not. In St. Louis, at least 11 children have been killed by gunfire so far this year. Living in neighborhoods with frequent violence has forced some families to improvise ways to keep their children safe, even in the place they are supposed to be most secure: their home. The stress of growing up in these conditions could lead to chronic health problems into adulthood.
As reopening decisions approach for the fall semester, colleges and universities are casting about for strategies to keep students safe without bankrupting their institutions. A few have natural advantages.
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