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Charlie Kjelshus needed neonatal intensive care for the first seven days of her life. The episode generated huge bills, and left her parents in a tangle of red tape that involved two insurers, two hospitals and two states.
As President Biden calls for more support to help schools hold in-person classes, public health experts say schools can be relatively safe if they take well-known steps to prevent covid. But a KHN investigation shows many districts and states have ignored health advice or written their own questionable safety rules for schools.
Public service announcements about drug use or other public health problems often fall short, public health marketing experts say, because they incite people鈥檚 worst fears rather than giving people solutions.
Black Americans are receiving covid vaccines at a much lower rate than their white peers due to a combination of mistrust and access issues, leaving them behind in the mission to vaccinate the nation鈥檚 population.
The wealthy corporation that owns Chicago鈥檚 Mercy Hospital says it must close the hospital because it鈥檚 losing money. A government board says no. The corporation still has the upper hand.
A Kansas woman thought she鈥檇 find help at her local emergency room. What she found instead was a packed hospital and an ambulance ride to someplace else.
Spouses of governors and federal leaders are getting early access to scarce doses of covid-19 vaccines. Some officials have argued their inoculation sets an example for the public and shows the vaccines to be safe and effective. But critics say those doses should go to more vulnerable people first.
As the pandemic hits Latino communities especially hard, Illinois is expanding public health insurance to all low-income noncitizen seniors. Advocates hope other states follow its lead.
A growing body of research shows that overuse and misuse of antibiotics in children鈥檚 hospitals is helping fuel superbugs, which typically strike frail seniors but are increasingly infecting kids. And the pandemic is making things worse.
In some parts of the country, the surge in covid cases is overwhelming coroners, morgues, funeral homes and religious leaders. It has required ingenuity and even changed the rituals of honoring the dead.
After missteps in Washington, each state and county is left to juggle where to send vaccines first and how to get them to each nursing home, hospital local health department and even school.
Persuading vulnerable low-income and ethnic communities hit hard by the coronavirus to take a new vaccine may be challenging. But established local health leaders, like a group in Rochester, Minnesota, may be one answer.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit hard for Troy Muenzer of Chicago. He had a 鈥渟uspected case鈥 of COVID in the spring, was billed nearly $1,000 after he unsuccessfully sought to get tested for COVID-19 and has been furloughed after the airline he worked for saw a major decline in passengers.
At least 181 public health leaders in 38 states have resigned, retired or been fired amid the turmoil of the pandemic. The departures come as backlash against public health is rising with threats to officials鈥 personal safety and legislative and legal efforts to strip their governmental public health powers.
Recreational marijuana may face resistance from GOP-dominated state governments despite being voted into law in Montana, South Dakota and Arizona.
The governor won praise around the state for his early efforts to combat the coronavirus, but as the crisis wore on and President Donald Trump played down the threat, Ohio Republicans began to grow restless with DeWine鈥檚 stance, and concerns for his reelection campaign in 2022 are rising.
As America enters a dark winter with no national directives against COVID-19, Washington, Missouri, faced the same dilemma numerous other communities are grappling with: enact restrictions to curb the pandemic or leave people to their own will? Then a local 13-year-old died.
Across the nation, primary care practices that were already struggling are closing, victims of the pandemic鈥檚 financial fallout. And this is reducing access to health care, especially in rural and other regions already short on doctors.
Critically ill rural patients are often sent to city hospitals for high-level treatment, and as their numbers grow, some urban hospitals are buckling under the added strain. Meanwhile, mask-wearing and other pandemic prevention measures remain spotty in rural counties.
As coronavirus cases surge, state officials can鈥檛 afford to wait for a new president to take office before taking action. But some governors鈥 initiatives seem to be little more than policy tweaks or symbolic gestures.
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