Category: Kaiser Health News

When Prisons Are ‘Petri Dishes,’ Inmates Can’t Guard Against COVID-19, They Say

Indiana prisoners said they can’t protect themselves from the virus, as the governor resists calls to reduce overcrowding. “Scared for our lives,” said an inmate.

Viral Post Alleging Obama-Era Device Tax Caused Current PPE Shortage Is Way Off

Nothing in this viral meme is accurate. And there are other places to place blame.

Palliative Care Helped Family Face ‘The Awful, Awful Truth’

Elizabeth and Robert Mar would have celebrated 50 years of marriage in August. Instead, they died within a day of each other. Their two very different deaths illustrate how palliative care is changing to help patients and families cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Lost on the Frontline

A lab assistant who spoke out about employee safety. A disease intervention specialist who hoped to follow her mother into nursing. A father of three who juggled jobs at three nursing homes. These are some of the people just added to “Lost on the Frontline,” a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who died of COVID-19.

COVID-Plagued California Nursing Homes Often Had Problems In Past

Nursing homes with COVID-19 infections tend to violate health rules more often and have more complaints and fines, records show. But infections also plague highly rated facilities — while sparing some low-ranked ones.

As COVID-19 Lurks, Families Are Locked Out Of Nursing Homes. Is It Safe Inside?

“The awful truth is families have no control over what’s happening,” one advocate says.

Do-It-Yourself Cheek Swab Tested As Next Best Thing To Detect Coronavirus

Los Angeles County is providing thousands of coronavirus self-testing kits to its citizens, but public health officials are leery of the shortage of data on whether this easier method ― in which an individual swabs his or her own cheek ― is as reliable as a less comfortable but well-established technique.

Trump’s Claim That U.S. Tested More Than All Countries Combined Is ‘Pants On Fire’ Wrong

When you factor in population size, the U.S. is still behind.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: SCOTUS Decides An ACA Case. No, Not THAT Case.

The Supreme Court this week, in an 8-1 decision, ruled that insurers are due the roughly $12 billion that Congress several years ago tried to cut off in payments under the Affordable Care Act’s “risk corridors” provision. And while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage in many places around the country, states are starting to reopen their economies at the urging of President Donald Trump and over objections of public health officials. Caitlin Owens of Axios and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment about COVID testing that should have been free but was not.

Free Clinics Try To Fill Gaps As COVID Sweeps Away Job-Based Insurance

The volunteer medical providers at the Tree of Life Free Clinic in Tupelo, Mississippi, give crucial health care to the uninsured in the best of times, drawing crowds who line up for hours. Amid the current COVID pandemic, clinic staffers were advised to close. Instead, they chose to adapt — even without critical N95 masks to protect themselves — as the economic crisis intensifies the need for free care.