Latest Kaiser Health News Stories

Rechazan a cuidadores familiares en sitios de vacunación contra covid de California
Aunque el gobierno los considera trabajadores de salud prioritarios, la confusión y la comunicación fallida han provocado que algunos padres elegibles sean rechazados.

Lost on the Frontline: Explore the Database
As of Wednesday, the ongoing KHN-Guardian project is investigating 3,507 deaths of U.S. health workers in the fight against covid-19. Today we add 15 profiles, including a stern psychiatrist who commanded respect, a “superwoman” nurse who gave birth just before being placed on a ventilator and a physician who refused to retire when the pandemic hit. Our interactive database investigates the question: Did they have to die?

In California, Caregivers of People With Disabilities Are Being Turned Away at COVID Vaccine Sites
Parents and caregivers of people with disabilities in California are supposed to be near the front of the line for the covid-19 vaccine. But some are hitting roadblocks at vaccination sites.

Rural Americans in Pharmacy Deserts Hurting for Covid Vaccines
Pharmacies are poised to start filling the gaps to vaccinate all of America against covid. Where does that leave people in rural counties that lack pharmacies?

Children’s Hospitals Grapple With Young Covid ‘Long Haulers’
Pediatric hospitals are creating clinics for the increasing number of children reporting lingering covid symptoms similar to those that plague some adults long after they have recovered.

Readers and Tweeters Dispense Timely Advice for Difficult Times
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: Revisiting Insulin: How the Medicine Got So Expensive
“An Arm and a Leg” is updating a story, first reported in 2019, about how insulin got to be so expensive. The latest news is more encouraging than expected.

Sorting Out How Politics, Policies Figure in Flap Over New York Nursing Home Covid Death Rates
The debate begins with the covid death tallies. But the issues go beyond basic numbers.

Beijing’s SARS Lockdown Taught My Children Resilience. Your Covid Kids Will Likely Be Fine.
Living through SARS taught my children important lessons, and not just about hygiene. It taught them how to make sacrifices for the sake of friends, family and community.

States Aim to Chip Away at Abortion Rights With Supreme Court in Mind
Legislatures in conservative-leaning states across the country are pushing bills that would restrict abortion and, with a conservative Supreme Court in place, could erode abortion protections under Roe v. Wade.

Connecticut Is Doling Out Vaccines Based Strictly on Age. It’s Simpler, but Is it Fair?
On Monday, Connecticut will be the first state to begin vaccinating anyone from age 55 to 64 — instead of people with chronic health issues and essential workers.

Becerra Has Long Backed Single-Payer. That Doesn’t Mean It Will Happen if He’s HHS Secretary.
Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has been on record throughout his career for this type of health care system. But the president doesn’t support it, which is the position that counts.

‘Into the Covid ICU’: A New Doctor Bears Witness to the Isolation, Inequities of Pandemic
Dr. Paloma Marin-Nevarez graduated from medical school during the pandemic. We follow the rookie doctor for her first months working at a hospital in Fresno, California, as she grapples with isolation, anti-mask rallies and an overwhelming number of deaths.

Looking to Kentucky’s Past to Understand Montana Health Nominee’s Future
Montana’s pick for health director has garnered both praise and criticism for his past in Kentucky, where he sought to add work requirements to the state’s Medicaid program and was a top health official amid a hepatitis A outbreak.

Black Churches Fill a Unique Role in Combating Vaccine Fears
Churches are the keystone of a major campaign to bring good information about covid vaccines to Black communities. But pastors are finding that scarce supplies and a clumsy rollout are complicating efforts to urge vaccination.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Staffing Up at HHS
More than a month into the Biden administration, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, finally got his confirmation hearings in the Senate, along with nominees for surgeon general and assistant secretary for health. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court announced it would hear a case challenging the Trump administration’s regulation that effectively evicted Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Tami Luhby of CNN and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews HuffPost’s Jonathan Cohn, whose new book, “The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage,” is out this week.

Aprendiendo a vivir de nuevo: cómo se recuperan pacientes graves de covid
En Rancho Los Amigos, en Los Angeles, latinos de bajos ingresos reciben terapia y tratamientos después de que covid los pusiera al borde de la muerte.

Journalists Weigh In on Biden’s HHS Pick
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.

Why AstraZeneca and J&J’s Vaccines, In Use Elsewhere, Are Still on Hold in America
Covid has pressed the Food and Drug Administration into its fastest vaccine reviews ever — which are still painfully slow, critics say.

Learning to Live Again: A Lazarus Tale From the Covid Front Lines
The staff at L.A. County’s public rehabilitation hospital is helping mostly Latino, low-income patients recover the basic functions of daily life robbed from them during weeks or months of critical covid illness.