Latest KFF Health News Stories
El discurso anti inmigrante complica la vacunación contra covid en estados del sur
Mientras el país se embarca en la abrumadora tarea de vacunar, a muchos funcionarios de salud se les dificulta la tarea de vacunar a 11 millones de indocumentados.
Anti-Immigrant Vitriol Complicates Vaccine Rollout in Southern States
Inoculating the millions of undocumented workers who produce America’s agricultural bounty will be key to achieving herd immunity against covid-19. But garnering the trust of these workers is proving complicated, particularly in the South, where the last four years have been marked by workplace raids and anti-immigrant vitriol.
Vaccines Go Mobile to Keep Seniors From Slipping Through the Cracks
A strike team of nurses and others is vaccinating Contra Costa County’s hardest-hit populations right where they live.
S.D. Governor Gives State High Marks in Handling the Pandemic. Are They Deserved?
While South Dakota is excelling in vaccine distribution and in keeping its economy intact, some health measures show the state is also dealing with one of the highest per capita covid death rates in the country.
Journalists Broach Topics From Vaccines and Super Bowl to True Love
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.
Lack of Covid Data on People With Intellectual Disabilities ‘Comes With a Body Count’
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are more likely to have medical conditions that make covid especially dangerous. But a lack of federal tracking means no one knows how many people in disability group housing have fallen ill or died from the virus.
As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them
The measures would impose taxes on increases in the price of drugs that don’t reflect improved clinical value and set the rates paid by state-run and commercial health plans to a benchmark based on prices in Canada.
Counterfeit N95 Scam Widens as Senator Demands FTC Investigation
Authorities seized 1.7 million fake masks in New York and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell called for a national probe.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All About Budget Reconciliation
Even while the Senate is busy with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the House has gotten down to work on a covid relief bill using the budget reconciliation process. Meanwhile, the watchword for covid this week among the public is confusion — over masks, vaccines and just about everything else science-related. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, the panelists recommend their favorite “health policy valentines” along with their favorite health policy stories they think you should read, too.
Vaccine Equity Is ‘North Star,’ Feds Say, and Clinics Are Key to Fair Distribution
Community health clinics are key to getting more Black and Hispanic Americans vaccinated, federal officials say. In Nashville, a vaccination push at federally funded clinics is underway.
Flurry of Bills Aim to Set Limits on Transgender Kids – And Their Doctors
Lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing bills to restrict transgender kids from participating in sports and ban doctors from treating them.
Health Workers and Hospitals Grapple With Millions of Counterfeit N95 Masks
Masks imitating the real thing are flooding U.S. ports, and authorities can hardly keep pace.
Farmworker Camps to Urban Tent Cities: Tailoring Vaccine Info to Where It’s Most Needed
Concerns arising in western North Carolina provide a window into the challenges facing health workers across the country as they seek to persuade vulnerable populations to be inoculated against covid.
Vaccine Hesitancy vs. Vaccine Refusal: Nursing Home Staffers Say There’s a Difference
It’s becoming increasingly clear that decision-making about the covid vaccine is complicated and multifaceted, which means persuading people to say yes will be, too.
Native Americans Use Technology to Keep Traditions, Language Alive During Pandemic
Tribes across the U.S. have turned to social media and the internet as leaders worry about covid-19’s threat to their culture and elders.
After Nearly 60 Years of Marriage, This Missouri Couple Stayed Together to the End
Arthur and Maggie Kelley of St. Louis died 30 days apart. Maggie died of complications of dementia in November. Arthur, who had moved into her nursing home to be with her, died a month later of covid. Their family held a double funeral.
California’s Smallest County Makes Big Vaccination Gains
In rural Alpine County, where snowbound mountain passes isolate small towns, distributing the covid vaccine is a community effort. Unlike in many urban areas where residents jockey for limited appointments, the pace of vaccinations here is strong and steady.
Schools Walk the Tightrope Between Ideal Safety and the Reality of Covid
Across the country, politics have muddied the question of when and how to reopen schools. Even though teachers continue to fear for their safety, lawmakers and parents are demanding that schools take advantage of declining infection rates to open safely and quickly.
Journalists Explore Inefficiency and Inequities of Vaccine Rollout
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.
As Demand for Mental Health Care Spikes, Budget Ax Set to Strike
Legislators in statehouses across the U.S. face the dual challenge of budgeting in a covid-crippled economy while planning for the pandemic’s long-term effects on mental health and substance abuse services.
