Latest KFF Health News Stories
‘All You Want Is to Be Believed’: The Impacts of Unconscious Bias in Health Care
One woman shares her experience trying to get care in a Bay Area hospital for COVID symptoms. At nearly every turn, a doctor dismissed her complaints. Is bias part of why people of color are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus?
COVID en LA: prevención en los trabajos ha salvado vidas de latinos, dicen oficiales
La agresiva aplicación de las normas de salud y la apertura de líneas para denunciar si no se cumplen han contribuido a la disminución de muertes.
COVID Crackdowns at Work Have Saved Black and Latino Lives, LA Officials Say
Strict enforcement of coronavirus protocols at factories and shops where some of the worst outbreaks have occurred has reduced the racial and ethnic disparities in COVID deaths and illness, say public health officials. They want to expand the effort by creating workplace safety councils.
Black Doctors Work to Make Coronavirus Testing More Equitable
The Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium has increased access to coronavirus testing in the Philadelphia region, testing more than 10,000 people. The group’s mobile unit and pop-up testing sites also offer patients an opportunity to connect with African American health care providers.
Evictions Damage Public Health. The CDC Aims to Curb Them ― For Now.
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.
The First Presidential Debate: A Night of Rapid-Fire Interruptions and Inaccuracies
Tuesday night’s presidential debate offered voters their first side-by-side comparison of the candidates, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
‘You’re Going to Release Him When He Was Hurting Himself?’
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.
KHN 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.
California’s Deadliest Spring in 20 Years Suggests COVID Undercount
California’s death count for the first five months of the pandemic was 13% higher than average for the same period during the prior three years. Subtract the deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 and experts say that still leaves scores of “excess” deaths among people of color that likely were mistakenly excluded from the coronavirus death tally.
Urban Hospitals of Last Resort Cling to Life in Time of COVID
Rural hospitals have been closing at a quickening pace in recent years, but a number of inner-city hospitals now face a similar fate. Experts fear that the economic damage inflicted by the COVID pandemic is helping push some of these urban hospitals over the edge at the very time their services are most needed.
Black Women Turn to Midwives to Avoid COVID and ‘Feel Cared For’
Midwifery was a tradition among slaves from Africa, but in more recent decades, pregnant Black women have generally shunned the approach. Now, home births and midwives are making a comeback in the Black community.
COVID Vaccine Trials Move at Warp Speed, But Recruiting Black Volunteers Takes Time
The National Institutes of Health has suggested minorities should be overrepresented in COVID-19 vaccine trials — perhaps at rates that are double their percentage of the U.S. population. But efforts to recruit patients from racial minority groups are just beginning, while some trials have already advanced to phase 3.
‘It Seems Systematic’: Doctors Cite 115 Cases of Head Injuries From Crowd Control Devices
In the most comprehensive tally of such injuries to date, the Physicians for Human Rights scoured publicly available data — including social media, news accounts and lawsuits — to document and name victims of summer protests. Still, the group cautions, it’s likely an undercount.
Readers and Tweeters Grapple With COVID Therapies and Forecasts
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Older Blacks are perishing quietly, out of sight, victims of the pandemic and a lifetime of racism and its attendant adverse health effects.
Inmigrantes y personas de minorías entre los más de 1,000 trabajadores de salud muertos por COVID
El virus ha cobrado un precio desproporcionado en las comunidades de color y entre los inmigrantes, y los trabajadores de salud no se han librado de esa tendencia.
Many People of Color, Immigrants Among Over 1,000 US Health Workers Lost to COVID
The Guardian and KHN release new figures showing that, among health care workers, a disproportionate number of immigrants and minorities have died.
Democratic Convention, Night 3: Making the Party Lines Clear
Sen. Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president amid strong arguments against Donald Trump.
Estudiantes de minorías analizan datos de COVID sobre disparidades raciales
Los datos para abordar las brechas raciales en la atención en las comunidades más necesitadas, y sus resultados, han sido escasos durante la pandemia.
Turning Anger Into Action: Minority Students Analyze COVID Data on Racial Disparities
About 70 college students are enrolled this summer in a program developed by San Francisco researchers and funded by the National Institutes of Health that allows them to explore the pandemic’s impact on communities facing health disparities.
