Category: women’s health

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Vaccine Approval Moves the Needle on Covid

The FDA’s formal approval of the first vaccine to prevent covid-19 may or may not prompt doubters to go out and get shots, but it has clearly prompted employers to make vaccination a work requirement. Meanwhile, moderates and liberals in the U.S. House put aside their differences long enough to keep a giant social-spending bill on track, at least for now. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

Readers and Tweeters Ponder Vaccines and Points of Fairness

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Readers and Tweeters Ponder Vaccines and Points of Fairness

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Getting a Covid Vaccine During Pregnancy Even More Urgent as ICU Beds Fill Up

The CDC recommends that pregnant people be vaccinated against covid-19, based on new safety and effectiveness evidence on the covid vaccines.

Long Drives, Air Travel, Exhausting Waits: What Abortion Requires in the South

Restrictive abortion regulations enacted across the South require women to drive across state lines to find safe services. With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear a challenge to Roe v. Wade, abortion rights defenders say long drives and wait times could become the norm across much of America.

New Moms Latched On to Remote Breastfeeding Help. Will Demand Wane as Pandemic Fades?

The pandemic forced new parents to find help with breastfeeding online. Now, some offerings are remaining virtual to help expand access to lactation support.

12,000 Square Miles Without Obstetrics? It’s a Possibility in West Texas

Big Bend Regional Medical Center, the only hospital in a sparsely populated region of West Texas, announced that because of a nursing shortage its labor and delivery unit must close for days at a time and patients must go instead to a hospital an hour away.

Why is the South the Epicenter of Anti-Abortion Fervor?

The Supreme Court, come autumn, will consider a Mississippi law that bans nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That’s hardly the most restrictive abortion law passed in the South. How did anti-abortion views become concentrated in the South?

Women Say California Insurer Makes It Too Hard to Get Drug for Postpartum Depression

Brexanolone is a promising new treatment for postpartum depression. But one insurer’s requirement that women try four other drugs and electroconvulsive therapy before the infusion means it is out-of-reach for millions of women.

Contraception Is Free to Women, Except When It’s Not

The landmark federal health law required most commercial health plans to cover a comprehensive list of birth control methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration free of charge to female patients. But health plans don’t have to cover every option, and newer methods are not included in the federal list of covered services.