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.
Category: Kaiser Health News
New Health Plans Offer Twists on Existing Options, With a Dose of ‘Buyer Beware’
Fueled by consumer frustration with high premiums and deductibles, two new offerings promise a means for consumers to take control of their health care costs. But experts say they pose risks.
Montana’s Governor Nixed a Kids’ Vaccine Campaign, So Health Officials Plan Their Own
A former Montana health department leader said Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration killed a public service campaign planned for last summer that promoted covid vaccines for teens. Health organizations want to fill the void with information on vaccines for children 5 and up.
Unvaccinated? Don’t Count on Leaving Your Family Death Benefits
Blurb: Some front-line workers who die of covid-19 have been considered eligible for accidental death benefits because it is presumed their infection was contracted on the job. But some employers now suggest that if the workers didn’t follow established safety protocols, such as getting vaccinated, those benefits may be denied.
‘Not Quite on Board’: Parents Proving a Tough Sell on Covid Vax for Teens
Even as the U.S. prepares to roll out a covid-19 vaccine to elementary school-aged kids, its efforts to inoculate teenagers — who have been eligible for the shot since May — continue to meet with a lackluster response. So far, about half of kids 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated in the U.S., compared with […]
What Do We Really Know About Vaccine Effectiveness?
Reports of waning effectiveness and mixed messages about booster shots fuel the politicization of vaccination.
Labs With No One to Run Them: Why Public Health Workers Are Fleeing the Field
Across California, public health departments are losing experienced staffers to exhaustion, partisan politics and jobs that pay more for less work. The public health nurses, epidemiologists and microbiologists who work to keep our communities healthy are abandoning the field.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: Need Surgery to Save Your Life? Tips for Getting Insurance to Pay
Laurie Todd calls herself the “Insurance Warrior” and is sharing her strategies for getting health insurance companies to bend to her will.
High Court Hears Cases on Novel Texas Law, but Outcome May Not Affect Abortion Access
The arguments before the justices did not deal directly with the state’s ban on abortions after six weeks. Instead, they centered on the unique mechanism in the law that gives state officials no role in enforcing the ban.
Nursing Home Residents Overlooked in Scramble for Covid Antibody Treatments
A federal allocation plan meant to ensure equitable distribution of powerful monoclonal antibody treatments for high-risk patients fails to prioritize nursing home residents, a population that remains particularly vulnerable even after vaccination.
