When Teens Blow Off Parents’ Pleas to Get Vaccinated, the Consequences Can Be Deadly
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Kennedy Stonum, a high school junior, deflected repeated entreaties from her father to please just get vaccinated against covid-19. “I would send her articles. I would send her studies. I would send her whatever I thought might either scare her enough about covid to get the vaccine or allay her concerns […]
Cuando los adolescentes no hacen caso al ruego de sus padres para que se vacunen, las consecuencias pueden ser mortales
COSTA MESA, California – Kennedy Stonum, estudiante de secundaria, ignoró las repetidas súplicas de su padre para que se vacunara contra covid-19. “Le enviaba artículos. Le enviaba estudios. Le enviaba cualquier cosa que yo pensaba que podría asustarla lo suficiente sobre covid para que se vacunara, o al menos disipar sus dudas sobre la vacuna”, […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A Health-Heavy State of the Union
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Russia’s attacks on Ukraine took the headlines for President Joe Biden’s first official State of the Union address, but […]
Biden Pledges Better Nursing Home Care, but He Likely Won’t Fast-Track It
President Joe Biden’s top Medicare official suggested Wednesday that forthcoming rules to bolster nursing home staffing won’t be issued under a mechanism, known as interim final rules, that would allow regulations to take effect more or less immediately. “While we want to move swiftly, we want to get comments from stakeholders,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of […]
Seeking to Shift Costs to Medicare, More Employers Move Retirees to Advantage Plans
As a parting gesture to a pandemic-ravaged city, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio hoped to provide the city with a gift that would keep on giving: new health insurance for 250,000 city retirees partly funded by the federal government. Although he promised better benefits and no change in health care providers, he said […]
Calls to Overhaul Methadone Distribution Intensify, but Clinics Resist
Days typically start early for patients undergoing opioid addiction treatment at Denver Recovery Group’s six methadone clinics in Colorado. They rise before dawn. Some take three buses to get to a clinic by 5 a.m. for a 15-minute conversation with a counselor and their daily dose of methadone, all before they go to work or […]
HIV Preventive Care Is Supposed to Be Free in the US. So, Why Are Some Patients Still Paying?
[UPDATED on March 4] Anthony Cantu, 31, counsels patients at a San Antonio health clinic about a daily pill shown to prevent HIV infection. Last summer, he started taking the medication himself, an approach called preexposure prophylaxis, better known as PrEP. The regimen requires laboratory tests every three months to ensure the powerful drug does […]
La medicación para prevenir el VIH debe ser gratis, pero las aseguradoras siguen cobrándola
Anthony Cantu, de 31 años, aconseja a los pacientes de una clínica de salud de San Antonio, Texas, sobre una pastilla diaria que ha demostrado prevenir la infección por VIH. El verano pasado, él mismo comenzó a tomar el medicamento, un enfoque llamado profilaxis previa a la exposición, conocido como PrEP. El régimen requiere pruebas […]
Fact Check: Biden Sets High Bar in 1st State of the Union Speech
President Joe Biden argued forcefully for the power of democracy while calling out Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a March 1 State of the Union address that soon turned to the domestic concerns of the economy, inflation, and covid-19. Biden’s one-hour speech was given to a largely unmasked crowd of lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, and […]
Biden’s Promise of Better Nursing Home Care Will Require Many More Workers
[UPDATED at 10:25 a.m. ET] The Biden administration has identified core impediments to better nursing home care in its proposed overhaul of the industry, but turning aspirations into reality will require a complex task: mandating adequate staffing levels for all homes without bankrupting those that can’t afford far higher labor costs. President Joe Biden’s proposals […]