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A year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded states and local health departments $2.25 billion to help people of color and other populations at higher risk from covid. But a KHN review shows public health agencies across the country have been slow to spend it.
Travel nurse contracts that were plentiful and paid the temporary nurses far more than hospital staff nurses are vanishing. Hospitals nationwide are turning their energies to recruiting full-time people.
Georgia may soon join a growing list of states decriminalizing the use of fentanyl testing strips. Bans of the strips 鈥 on the books in about half of states, experts say 鈥 stem from laws criminalizing drug paraphernalia adopted decades ago. But the testing devices are now recommended to help prevent overdose deaths.
A recent court decision that overturns one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 few pandemic rules 鈥 masks required on public transportation 鈥 spotlights how little power remains in federal hands to enforce public health protections.
To contain the spread of covid, hospitals and nursing homes barred visits. The separation and isolation took a toll on patients and families. Florida is one of the latest states to ensure access for visitors.
As the country enters Year 3 of the pandemic emergency, people with disabilities across the U.S. are still finding it difficult to use innovations in telemedicine, teleworking, and testing.
The Biden administration鈥檚 request for billions more in funding to fight covid-19 hit a snag on Capitol Hill this week, as Democrats objected to Republican demands that money allocated to states but not yet spent be reclaimed. Meanwhile, the big annual spending bill about to cross the finish line addresses other health policy changes, such as giving the FDA authority to regulate 鈥渟ynthetic鈥 nicotine. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Jessie Hellmann of Modern Healthcare 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.
Conservative lawmakers may find their anti-abortion agendas complicated by state constitutions that explicitly grant citizens the right to privacy, regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court does.
State medical boards have an obligation to investigate complaints about doctors, including those who may spread false information about medical care. But in Florida, Tennessee, and other states, lawmakers are moving to protect physicians using unproven covid treatments or spreading misinformation.
The omicron variant upended a system in which states shared rapid covid tests with those that needed them more. Cooperation has turned into competition as states run out of supplies, limit which organizations get them, or hold on to expired kits as a last resort.
The top 12 states using antibody therapies produced by Regeneron and Lilly 鈥 which research shows don鈥檛 work against the omicron variant 鈥 include several Southern states with some of the nation鈥檚 lowest vaccination rates, but also California, which ranks among the top 20 for fully vaccinated residents.
As omicron sweeps the country, many hospitals are dealing with a flood of people hospitalized with covid 鈥 including those primarily admitted for other reasons. While often milder cases, so-called incidental covid infections still drain the beleaguered health care workforce and can put them and other patients at higher risk for contracting covid.
Nearly 14 million Americans have enrolled in Affordable Care Act marketplace health plans for next year 鈥 a record since the health law鈥檚 coverage expansion took effect in 2014. A boost in subsidies marketing and assistance in navigating the process increased the rolls of the insured.
The letters function as liens that 鈥減rotect鈥 spine surgery clinics while patients could be left with inflated medical bills and unexpected health risks.
After baby Dorian Bennett arrived two months early and spent more than 50 days in the neonatal ICU, his parents received a bill of more than $550,000 鈥 despite having insurance. The Florida hospital had a not-so-helpful suggestion: monthly payments of more than $45,000 for a year.
The Republican senator says President Joe Biden鈥檚 鈥渋nflation crisis鈥 caused Medicare to raise monthly premiums, which will add hundreds of dollars to beneficiaries鈥 costs. But Medicare experts say inflation was not to blame and most beneficiaries will shoulder a much smaller increase than what Rick Scott claims.
Theater companies and musical ensembles are restarting live performances after a crippling pandemic pause. In some conservative states, artists find creative ways to get around state laws that go against public health recommendations.
A West Virginia pharmacy cleared a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation. But it shut down anyway, highlighting how the agency鈥檚 policies reduce the availability of buprenorphine, an important tool for recovery from opioid addiction.
About 21% of patients diagnosed with covid during a hospital stay died, according to data analyzed for KHN. In-hospital rates of spread varied widely and patients had no way of checking them.
The latest iteration of President Joe Biden's social-spending package would close the health insurance gap for at least 2.2 million people, making a huge difference especially in the South, where political opposition has blocked Medicaid expansion.
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