Latest Kaiser Health News Stories

Community Health Workers, Often Overlooked, Bring Trust to the Pandemic Fight
As the pandemic brings long-standing health disparities into sharper view, community health workers are being asked to help the public health response. This fast-growing workforce helps fill the gaps between health care providers and low-income communities by offering education, advocacy and outreach.

‘It’s About Love and Solidarity’: Mutual Aid Unites NYC Neighbors Facing COVID
Mutual aid groups, in which volunteers give their time and resources to help others in the community, are seeing a resurgence in New York with the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 Batters A Beloved Bay Area Community Health Care Center
Health clinics in isolated African American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area provide crucial services to neglected populations. But like thousands of other community clinics around the nation, their finances have been wrecked by the pandemic shutdown.

Centros de salud comunitarios enfrentan al coronavirus, bajo presión financiera
Alrededor de 29 millones de personas en el país dependen de estos centros, que ofrecen atención médica a pacientes de bajos ingresos y sin seguro. Millones de latinos utilizan estas clínicas.

Under Financial Strain, Community Health Centers Ramp Up Coronavirus Response
Many of the nation’s safety-net clinics for low-income patients are having to turn their model of care upside down overnight to deal with the realities of the pandemic — a challenge both financially and logistically. Federal funding is on the way.

Masks Reveal Cultural Disconnect As L.A.’s Chinese Community Braces For Coronavirus
Since two cases of the mysterious new coronavirus were reported in Southern California, Chinese immigrants have begun donning face masks. The practice is common in China but goes against official guidance in the U.S., and that’s causing conflict in local schools.

Una luchadora por la salud inmigrante, en las clínicas y en las cortes
Jane García, directora ejecutiva de la Clínica de La Raza, que opera una red de 30 centros comunitarios de salud, ha sido testigo activo de la lucha por la salud de los inmigrantes.

From Clinic To Courtroom, Fighting For Immigrant Health Care
Jane Garcia is CEO of La Clínica de La Raza, which operates more than 30 clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area serving a high percentage of immigrant patients. She has challenged state and federal immigration policies in court, including the Trump administration’s recent attempt to expand the “public charge” rule.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ ‘Medicare-For-All’ Debate: Who’s Going To Pay
Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the new “Medicare-for-all” bill introduced by House Democrats, the grilling of pharmaceutical company CEOs by a Senate committee and new Trump administration rules that take aim at Planned Parenthood. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Julie Appleby about the latest “Bill of the Month” installment.

Community Hospitals Link Arms With Prestigious Facilities To Raise Their Profiles
A growing number of community hospitals are forming alliances with some of the nation’s biggest and most prestigious institutions. But for prospective patients, it can be hard to assess what these relationships actually mean.

Providers Walk ‘Fine Line’ Between Informing And Scaring Immigrant Patients
Some doctors and clinics are proactively informing patients about a proposed policy that could jeopardize the legal status of immigrants who use public benefit programs such as Medicaid. Others argue that because this “public charge” proposal isn’t final — and may never be adopted — disseminating too much information could create unnecessary alarm and cause some patients to drop benefits.

Can A Community Hospital Stay True To Its Mission After Sale To Large Corporation?
After 130 years as a nonprofit with deep roots in western North Carolina, Mission Health announced in March that it was seeking to be bought by HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain.

Texas Clinics Busting Traditional Silos Of Mental And Physical Health Care
Efforts to provide care that integrates physical and mental health services are spreading, partly because untreated mental health conditions negatively affect physical health and escalate health care costs.

Psiquiatra se queda cerca de casa, fiel a su promesa de la infancia
La doctora Yamanda Edwards es la única psiquiatra en el Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital. Ella decidió ejercer en el vecindario en donde creció, que tiene una necesidad acuciante de servicios de salud mental.

Psychiatrist Stays Close To Home And True To Her Childhood Promise
Yamanda Edwards is the only psychiatrist at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, caring for residents in South Los Angeles, a community with a shortage of mental health care.

Pobres y sin atención médica: la nueva realidad de los suburbios
Siempre se creyó que era un enclave de los ricos, pero hoy en día más de 17 millones de personas viven en los suburbios, en donde es un desafío encontrar un doctor.

Centros comunitarios de salud obtienen fondos a largo plazo
Como parte de la legislación para no cerrar el gobierno federal, estos centros que reciben a 27 millones de personas cada año en todo el país tendrán dinero por dos años.

Upsurge Of Suburban Poor Discover Health Care’s Nowhere Land
More low-income people now live in suburbs than in cities or rural areas, putting a strain on local health services. Suburbs, which traditionally have had fewer resources or infrastructure, are scrambling to catch up.

Community Health Centers Caught In ‘Washington’s Political Dysfunction’
The centers, which serve 27 million people, get about 20 percent of their funding from the federal government. But that revenue is slated to end on March 31.

Stalled Health Programs Await A Green Light On The Hill
With another piece of must-pass legislation set to move through Congress, there’s a push to attach provisions to keep afloat a number of health-related programs for which funding or specific federal direction has expired.