The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Of the three covid vaccines the U.S. government has authorized, only one is available to 16- and 17-year-olds: the Pfizer shot. It鈥檚 also the most complicated to manage in rural settings, with their small, dispersed populations. That forces some teens and their families to travel long distances for a dose 鈥 or go without.
The covid outbreak in Michigan stands out on the U.S. contagion map, but odds are it will be repeated elsewhere. How vaccine hesitancy, relaxed restrictions and a coronavirus variant combined to create the worst outbreak in the country.
The Biden administration has started to speed efforts to reverse health policies forged under Donald Trump. Most recently, the administration overturned a ban on fetal tissue research and canceled a last-minute extension of a Medicaid waiver for Texas. That latter move may delay the Senate confirmation of President Joe Biden鈥檚 nominee to head the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) seeks to fight back. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Rachel Cohrs of Stat and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Medical experts are struggling to define or explain the lingering, debilitating symptoms some covid patients experience. Part of the problem is the wide range of symptoms, but doctors say getting a better understanding will mean tracking patients and their outcomes and establishing clinical trials.
Generous personal injury coverage on your car policy may not be enough to cover medical bills. Patients can get financially blindsided when auto insurance and health insurance policies differ.
California stresses equity for minority groups. Texas is all about personal choice and liberty. Both are struggling to vaccinate Latinos and contending with vaccine hesitancy among conservative communities.
A bill that would have allowed California cities and counties to once again pursue taxes on sugary drinks was just shelved in the legislature without a hearing. Public health advocates blame the political 鈥 and financial 鈥 clout of the soft drink industry.
Public health resources have shifted from one pandemic to the other, and experts fear steep declines in testing and diagnoses mean more people will contract HIV and die of AIDS.
The Florida governor considers the pushback he received from the online video platform to be 鈥淥rwellian.鈥 But the scientists featured at the event made specific statements YouTube deemed as 鈥渕isinformation,鈥 at odds with current public health recommendations for controlling the spread of the covid virus.
The latest episode of 鈥淎merica Dissected鈥 features a conversation with Dr. Paloma Marin-Nevarez and KHN senior correspondent Jenny Gold. Gold documented the new physician鈥檚 first months on the job at a Fresno, California, hospital, caring for severely ill covid patients.
Lawmakers in California and other states are rethinking how they set and enforce speed limits, and they鈥檙e proposing to hand more power to local authorities to slow drivers in their communities.
Health providers are seeing the consequences of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care, from longer hospital stays to more root canals.
The Virginia hospital giant had already stopped suing patients with less than $107,000 in household income.
Medicare Advantage company may face record penalty over alleged billing errors.
Congress has poured tens of billions of dollars into public health since last year. While health officials who have juggled bare-bones budgets for years are grateful for the money, they worry it will soon dry up, just as it has after previous crises such as 9/11, SARS and Ebola. Meanwhile, they continue to cope with an exodus from the field amid political pressure and exhaustion that meant 1 in 6 Americans lost their local health department leader.
For some, a vaccine appointment a few hours away is no biggie. For others, it鈥檚 a major barrier to gaining protection from the coronavirus.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
At least 5,800 people have fallen ill or tested positive for covid two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. 鈥淚 now tell everyone, including my colleagues, not to let their guard down.”
Podcast panelists discuss a range of health policy developments, from the latest in the covid vaccination effort to the HHS budget, among other things.
For years, women with painful gynecological issues have faced long waits in ERs or longer waits to see their doctors. During the pandemic, women have increasingly turned to women鈥檚 clinics that handle urgent issues like miscarriage or serious urinary tract infections.
