Latest KFF Health News Stories
KHN readers detail their frustrations and successes as they hunt for a scarce covid-19 vaccine.
Covid Vaccine Websites Violate Disability Laws, Create Inequity for the Blind
A KHN investigation found covid vaccine registration and information websites at the federal, state and local levels are flouting disability rights laws and limiting the ability of people who are blind or visually impaired to sign up for shots.
With GOP Back at Helm, Montana Renews Push to Sniff Out Welfare Fraud
Montana is one of the latest states looking to aggressively check welfare eligibility to cut costs. Supporters of such steps say it’s about what’s fair — weeding out those who don’t qualify for assistance — while opponents say it will cut loose enrollees who actually need help.
Have a Case of a Covid Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You
As experts race to get an approved test for covid variants, officials are severely restricted from sharing information about the cases. That makes it harder to protect others.
‘It Doesn’t Feel Worth It’: Covid Is Pushing New York’s EMTs to the Brink
Struggling with low pay and high stress, New York paramedics and EMTs are reaching a breaking point.
DeSantis Advances Questionable Link Between Lockdowns and Despair
Experts agreed there’s no definitive evidence to back up the Florida governor’s assertion.
Covid Strikes Clergy as They Comfort Pandemic’s Sick and Dying
Spiritual leaders risk their own lives and health to tend to covid’s victims and their loved ones.
The Trump and Biden administrations both imposed wartime production requirements. But industry experts say the vast quantities of raw materials and specialty equipment needed for billions of newfangled vaccines have required herculean logistical efforts.
Paciente de transplante muere después de recibir pulmones infectados con covid
El incidente parece ser aislado, el único caso confirmado entre casi 40,000 trasplantes realizados en 2020. Pero ha generado el pedido de que se hagan pruebas más exhaustivas a los donantes.
Organ Transplant Patient Dies After Receiving Covid-Infected Lungs
The first confirmed U.S. case of SARS-CoV-2 being transmitted through an organ transplant has prompted calls for updated transplant protocols and additional testing of samples from deep within donor lungs.
New Single-Payer Bill Intensifies Newsom’s Political Peril
With the introduction of a single-payer bill Friday, a group of California Democratic lawmakers set the terms of the health care debate in the Capitol this year. The move puts Gov. Gavin Newsom in a delicate political position, threatening to alienate voters as he faces a likely recall election.
Feds OK’d Export of Millions of N95 Masks as U.S. Workers Cried for More
In the hours before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, the Federal Emergency Management Agency allowed a Texas mask maker to ship the high-quality masks overseas.
Spurred by Pandemic, Little Shell Tribe Fast-Tracks Its Health Service Debut
As the newest federally recognized tribe, the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana is starting from scratch to deliver health care to members. While covid-19 has been devastating, it has sped up the tribe’s ability to build a clinic. Yet, lacking a reservation, the tribe faces challenges reaching its scattered members.
To Vaccinate Veterans, Health Care Workers Must Cross Mountains, Plains and Tundra
Veterans Affairs officials are flying COVID-19 vaccines to remote locations in Montana and Alaska to quickly inoculate rural veterans before the drugs expire.
Companies Pan for Marketing Gold in Vaccines
Some assisted living facilities, pharmacy chains and health care providers are luring new customers with covid shots.
Medicare Cuts Payment to 774 Hospitals Over Patient Complications
Renowned medical centers are among the quarter of general hospitals that will lose 1% of Medicare payments for one year because their patients have high rates of bedsores, sepsis and other preventable complications.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Open Enrollment, One More Time
Keeping a campaign promise, President Joe Biden has reopened enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act on healthcare.gov — and states that run their own health insurance marketplaces followed suit. At the same time, the Biden administration is moving to revoke the Trump administration’s permission for states to impose work requirements for some adults on the Medicaid health insurance program. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews medical student Inam Sakinah, president of the new group Future Doctors in Politics.
Montana’s Health Policy MVP Takes Her Playbook on the Road
Marilyn Bartlett, credited with saving Montana’s state employee health plan millions of dollars, is a busy consultant now, as states, counties and big businesses try to use her playbook to bring down hospital costs.
Rural Hospital Remains Entrenched in Covid ‘War’ Even Amid Vaccine Rollout
Louisiana’s St. James Parish Hospital thought the vaccine would mean the end of its long covid fight. Then the ICU beds surrounding them ran out.
Why Biden Has a Chance to Cut Deals With Red State Holdouts on Medicaid
The pandemic and economic crisis give states new incentives to extend health coverage to their uninsured residents.
