Category: states

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All About Budget Reconciliation

Even while the Senate is busy with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the House has gotten down to work on a covid relief bill using the budget reconciliation process. Meanwhile, the watchword for covid this week among the public is confusion — over masks, vaccines and just about everything else science-related. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, the panelists recommend their favorite “health policy valentines” along with their favorite health policy stories they think you should read, too.

Vaccine Equity Is ‘North Star,’ Feds Say, and Clinics Are Key to Fair Distribution

Community health clinics are key to getting more Black and Hispanic Americans vaccinated, federal officials say. In Nashville, a vaccination push at federally funded clinics is underway.

Flurry of Bills Aim to Set Limits on Transgender Kids – And Their Doctors

Lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing bills to restrict transgender kids from participating in sports and ban doctors from treating them.

Health Workers and Hospitals Grapple With Millions of Counterfeit N95 Masks

Masks imitating the real thing are flooding U.S. ports, and authorities can hardly keep pace.

Farmworker Camps to Urban Tent Cities: Tailoring Vaccine Info to Where It’s Most Needed

Concerns arising in western North Carolina provide a window into the challenges facing health workers across the country as they seek to persuade vulnerable populations to be inoculated against covid.

Vaccine Hesitancy vs. Vaccine Refusal: Nursing Home Staffers Say There’s a Difference

It’s becoming increasingly clear that decision-making about the covid vaccine is complicated and multifaceted, which means persuading people to say yes will be, too.

Schools Walk the Tightrope Between Ideal Safety and the Reality of Covid

Across the country, politics have muddied the question of when and how to reopen schools. Even though teachers continue to fear for their safety, lawmakers and parents are demanding that schools take advantage of declining infection rates to open safely and quickly.

California’s Smallest County Makes Big Vaccination Gains

In rural Alpine County, where snowbound mountain passes isolate small towns, distributing the covid vaccine is a community effort. Unlike in many urban areas where residents jockey for limited appointments, the pace of vaccinations here is strong and steady.

California’s Smallest County Makes Big Vaccination Gains

In rural Alpine County, where snowbound mountain passes isolate small towns, distributing the covid vaccine is a community effort. Unlike in many urban areas where residents jockey for limited appointments, the pace of vaccinations here is strong and steady.

After Nearly 60 Years of Marriage, This Missouri Couple Stayed Together to the End

Arthur and Maggie Kelley of St. Louis died 30 days apart. Maggie died of complications of dementia in November. Arthur, who had moved into her nursing home to be with her, died a month later of covid. Their family held a double funeral.