Category: states

Florida’s New Hospital Industry Head Ran Medicaid in State and Fought Expansion

The state’s hospital association in September picked Mary Mayhew to be its new CEO. While leading the state Medicaid office, she was a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion program.

These Front-Line Workers Could Have Retired. They Risked Their Lives Instead.

An investigation by KHN and The Guardian shows that 329 health care workers age 65 or older have reportedly died of COVID-19.

People Proving to Be Weakest Link for Apps Tracking COVID Exposure

Contact tracers in many states are stretched thin. Colorado is among the latest states to launch an app that aims to help, based on the COVID contact-tracing tool built by Apple and Google. But there’s a chicken-and-egg problem: More people will use them if they prove to work, but the apps become effective only if more people use them.

States’ Face-Covering Mandates Leave Gaps in Protection

States vary in how they define face coverings in their mandates. But a bandanna or neck gaiter isn’t nearly as effective as a surgical or cloth mask. Public health experts say every state needs more standardization to protect against COVID-19.

As Broad Shutdowns Return, Weary Californians Ask ‘Is This the Best We Can Do?’

California’s ping-ponging approach to managing the pandemic — twice reopening large portions of the service sector economy only to shut them again — has residents and business owners on edge. But experts say the push and pull on businesses may be what success looks like in much of the U.S. for months to come, given COVID-19’s pervasive spread.

Anger After North Dakota Governor Asks COVID-Positive Health Staff to Stay on Job

Doctors and nurses say order puts lives in danger, amid a COVID surge and a statewide shortage of health care workers.

Homeless Shelters Grapple With COVID Safety as Cold Creeps In

During the pandemic, shelters are having to change the way they do things to prevent the virus from spreading among the vulnerable homeless population. Now, as winter weather moves in, there’s less room at the shelters for those in need — threatening to leave many, literally, out in the cold.

Workers Who Lost Jobs Due to COVID May Need Help Getting Coverage This Fall

Millions of people have lost their jobs and health insurance since March, and experts say many of those looking for a plan on the ACA marketplace may not be able to get the assistance they need.

California Stands to Lose Big if US Supreme Court Cancels Obamacare

California has more at stake than any other state should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people could lose their health coverage and the state could lose billions in federal money each year.

‘No Mercy’ Chapter 7: After a Rural Town Loses Hospital, Is a Health Clinic Enough?

In Fort Scott, Kansas, the Community Health Center’s big green-and-white sign replaced Mercy Hospital’s name on the front of the town’s massive medical building. In the final chapter of Season One: “No Mercy,” we have an appointment to see what’s inside.