Author: Avisoscuba
CLARKSBURG, Calif. — On a sunny August morning in this agricultural town, before temperatures soared to 103 degrees, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stood outside the small public library. He came to talk about the Biden administration’s efforts to protect farmworkers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, two emerging public health issues at the forefront of the climate crisis. “There are still not enough protections for workers that are picking the food that we eat,” Becerra told a group of local reporters and government officials, who outnumbered the farmworkers in the audience. Becerra, whose father worked in…
KFF Health News Colorado correspondent Rae Ellen Bichell discussed farmworkers and their risk of contracting bird flu on KGNU on Sept. 5. Click here to hear Bichell on KGNU Read Bichell’s “With Only Gloves To Protect Them, Farmworkers Say They Tend Sick Cows Amid Bird Flu” KFF Health News Northern California correspondent Vanessa G. Sánchez discussed HIV rates among Latinos in San Francisco on KQED on Aug. 26. Click here to hear Sánchez on KQED Read Sánchez’s “Cautious Optimism in San Francisco as New Cases of HIV in Latinos Decrease” On WUGA’s “The Georgia Health Report” on Aug. 23, KFF…
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During the heat dome that blanketed much of the Southeast in June, Stacey Freeman used window units to cool her poorly insulated mobile home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Over the winter, the 44-year-old mom relied on space heaters. In both instances, her energy bills reached hundreds of dollars a month. “Sometimes I have to choose whether I’m going to pay the light bill,” Freeman said, “or do I pay all the rent or buy food or not let my son do a sport?” As a regional field organizer for PowerUp NC, Freeman’s job is to help people…
In a video posted to Reddit this summer, Lucie Rosenthal’s face starts focused and uncertain, looking intently into the camera, before it happens. She releases a succinct, croak-like belch. Then, it’s wide-eyed surprise, followed by rollicking laughter. “I got it!” the Denver resident says after what was her second burp ever. “It’s really rocking my mind that I am fully introducing a new bodily function at 26 years old,” Rosenthal later told KFF Health News while working remotely, because, as great as the burping was, it was now happening uncontrollably. “Sorry, excuse me. Oh, my god. That was a burp.…
When the Indian Health Service can’t provide medical care to Native Americans, the federal agency can refer them elsewhere. But each year, it rejects tens of thousands of requests to fund those appointments, forcing patients to go without treatment or pay daunting medical bills out of their own pockets. In theory, Native Americans are entitled to free health care when the Indian Health Service foots the bill at its facilities or sites managed by tribes. In reality, the agency is chronically underfunded and understaffed, leading to limited medical services and leaving vast swaths of the country without easy access to…
Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez Even as federal aid poured into state budgets in response to the covid-19 pandemic, public health leaders warned of a boom-and-bust funding cycle on the horizon as the emergency ended and federal grants sunsetted. Now, that drought has become reality and state governments are slashing budgets that feed local health departments. Congress allotted more than $800 billion to support states’ covid responses, fueling a surge in the public health workforce nationwide. Local health department staffing grew by about 19% from 2019 to 2022, according to a report from the National Association of County and City Health Officials…
The computer systems run by the consulting giant Deloitte that millions of Americans rely on for Medicaid and other government benefits are prone to errors that can take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to update. While states wait for fixes from Deloitte, beneficiaries risk losing access to health care and food. Changes needed to fix Deloitte-run eligibility systems often pile on costs to the government that are much higher than the original contracts, which can slow the process of fixing errors. It has become a big problem across the country. Twenty-five states have awarded Deloitte contracts for eligibility…
A strong public health system can make a big difference for those who face stark health disparities. But epidemiologists serving Native American communities, which have some of the nation’s most profound health inequities, say they’re hobbled by state and federal agencies restricting their access to important data. American Indians and Alaska Natives face life expectancy about 10 years shorter than the national average and, in early 2020, had a covid-19 infection rate 3½ times that of non-Hispanic Whites. While tribal health leaders have fought for years for better access to data from federal agencies, the pandemic underscored the urgency of…
When pediatrician Eric Ball opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, pneumococcal vaccine — except one. “This is where we usually store our covid vaccines, but we don’t have any right now because they all expired at the end of last year and we had to dispose of them,” said Ball, who is part of a pediatric practice in Orange County, California. “We thought demand would be way higher than it was.” Pediatricians across the country are pre-ordering the updated and reformulated covid-19 vaccine for the fall and winter respiratory virus…
Phillip Reese Christina Kashiwada was traveling for work during the summer of 2018 when she noticed a small, itchy lump in her left breast. She thought little of it at first. She did routine self-checks and kept up with medical appointments. But a relative urged her to get a mammogram. She took the advice and learned she had stage 3 breast cancer, a revelation that stunned her. “I’m 36 years old, right?” said Kashiwada, a civil engineer in Sacramento, California. “No one’s thinking about cancer.” About 11,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021…
Uno de los dos programas de formación de enfermeras parteras de California ha dejado de admitir estudiantes mientras renueva su plan de estudios para ofrecer sólo doctorados, una medida que ha generado protestas de ex alumnos, expertos en políticas de salud y profesores que acusan a la Universidad de California (UC) de anteponer beneficios económicos a las necesidades de salud pública. La prestigiosa escuela de enfermería de la UC-San Francisco graduará a su última promoción de enfermeras parteras la próxima primavera. Luego, la universidad cancelará su programa de máster de dos años en enfermería obstétrica, junto con otras disciplinas de…
Ronnie Cohen One of California’s two programs for training nurse-midwives has stopped admitting students while it revamps its curriculum to offer only doctoral degrees, a move that’s drawn howls of protest from alumni, health policy experts, and faculty who accuse the University of California of putting profits above public health needs. UC-San Francisco’s renowned nursing school will graduate its final class of certified nurse-midwives next spring. Then the university will cancel its two-year master’s program in nurse-midwifery, along with other nursing disciplines, in favor of a three-year doctor of nursing practice, or DNP, degree. The change will pause UCSF’s nearly…
Finding a nursing home for yourself or a parent can be daunting. Many facilities are understaffed and the worker shortages have gotten worse since the start of the pandemic. KFF Health News senior correspondent Jordan Rau shares tips about finding nearby homes, evaluating staffing levels, what to look for when visiting, and more. Find additional resources here. Credits Hannah Norman Video producer Francis Ying Videographer Oona Tempest Illustrator KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and…
Sarah Varney, KFF Health News Ashley and Kyle were newlyweds in early 2022 and thrilled to be expecting their first child. But bleeding had plagued Ashley from the beginning of her pregnancy, and in July, at seven weeks, she began miscarrying. The couple’s heartbreak came a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion. In Wisconsin, their home state, an 1849 law had sprung back into effect, halting abortion care except when a pregnant woman faced death. Insurance coverage for abortion care in the U.S. is a hodgepodge. Patients often don’t know when or if…
The FDA has approved an updated covid shot for everyone 6 months old and up, which renews a now-annual quandary for Americans: Get the shot now, with the latest covid outbreak sweeping the country, or hold it in reserve for the winter wave? The new vaccine should provide some protection to everyone. But many healthy people who have already been vaccinated or have immunity because they’ve been exposed to covid enough times may want to wait a few months. Covid has become commonplace. For some, it’s a minor illness with few symptoms. Others are laid up with fever, cough, and…
Stephanie Armour Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have a rare point of agreement in their otherwise bitter and divisive contest: It’s up to the government to cut high U.S. drug prices. Harris cast the tie-breaking Senate vote in 2022 for legislation that allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices for its more than 60 million beneficiaries. Before that, she was an aggressive regulator of the drug industry as California attorney general. As president, Trump would likely retain Medicare price negotiations unless the pharmaceutical industry can come up with something more compelling that they’d put on the table,…
By Elisabeth Rosenthal August 26, 2024 Article HTML Elisabeth Rosenthal A hard-won provision of the Affordable Care Act allows young adults to stay on their family’s health insurance until age 26. But after that, those without employer-sponsored insurance face an array of complicated choices, including whether to shop on the insurance plan exchange, apply for Medicaid, or roll the dice and go uninsured. Are you a young adult confused about navigating the exchanges used to pick plans? Have you bought a plan on an ACA exchange and found that it didn’t cover care? Have you married or taken a job…
GREELEY, Colorado — A principios de agosto, trabajadores agrícolas se reunieron en un parque de Greeley para celebrar con un picnic el Día de Apreciación del Trabajador Agrícola. Un signo de que este año fue diferente de los anteriores fue el menú: fajitas de res, tortillas, pico de gallo, chips, frijoles… pero sin pollo. Las granjas en Colorado habían sacrificado a millones de pollos en los últimos meses para detener la transmisión de la gripe aviar. Los organizadores completaron la oferta con perritos calientes. Sin importar el menú, algunos trabajadores de tambos en el evento dijeron que no se sienten…
Aneri Pattani and Henry Larweh and Ed Mahon, Spotlight PA The conversation wasn’t sounding good for Kensington residents on June 20. The Philadelphia neighborhood is a critical center of the nation’s opioid crisis, and the city had decided to spend $7.5 million in opioid settlement money to improve the quality of life there. But on that day, a Pennsylvania oversight board was about to vote on whether to reject the city’s decision. It was a thorny issue with major implications — both for Kensington residents and people across the state, as the decision could set a precedent for what kind…
Fred Schulte, KFF Health News A decade ago, federal officials drafted a plan to discourage Medicare Advantage health insurers from overcharging the government by billions of dollars — only to abruptly back off amid an “uproar” from the industry, newly released court filings show. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the draft regulation in January 2014. The rule would have required health plans, when examining patient’s medical records, to identify overpayments by CMS and refund them to the government. But in May 2014, CMS dropped the idea without any public explanation. Newly released court depositions show that agency…
Rae Ellen Bichell GREELEY, Colo. — In early August, farmworkers gathered under a pavilion at a park here for a picnic to celebrate Farmworker Appreciation Day. One sign that this year was different from the others was the menu: Beef fajitas, tortillas, pico de gallo, chips, beans — but no chicken. Farms in Colorado had culled millions of chickens in recent months to stem the transmission of bird flu. Organizers filled out the spread with hot dogs. No matter the menu, some dairy workers at the event said they don’t exactly feel appreciated. They said they haven’t received any personal…
Dan Weissmann Caitlyn Mai thought she did everything right. She called ahead to make sure her insurer would cover her cochlear implant surgery. She thought everything went according to plan but she still got a bill for the full cost of the surgery: more than $139,000. What Caitlyn did next is a reminder of why a beloved former guest once said you should “never pay the first bill.” This episode of “An Arm and a Leg” is an extended version of the July installment of the “Bill of the Month” series, created in partnership with NPR. Dan Weissmann @danweissmann Host and…