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Critically ill rural patients are often sent to city hospitals for high-level treatment, and as their numbers grow, some urban hospitals are buckling under the added strain. Meanwhile, mask-wearing and other pandemic prevention measures remain spotty in rural counties.
Having a child with a food allergy is terrifying for any parent, but for low-income families such allergies can be especially deadly. Food assistance programs and food pantries rarely take allergies into account. And access to specialists, support groups and lifesaving epinephrine can be hard to attain. This especially hurts low-income Black children, who have higher incidences of allergies to corn, wheat and soy than white kids.
As the pandemic continues to cast shadows on everyday life, some candidates for governor are talking about everything except the specifics of how they would manage COVID-19 into the future.
Amid a surge of college coronavirus cases, some local and state health departments have been scrambling to properly trace contacts and assign cases across state and county lines.
When in public, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence join crowded rallies where many do not wear masks. Behind the scenes, the White House is recommending states adopt mask mandates and even fines 鈥 leaving it up to local officials to handle the consequences.
Montana sheriffs say the state鈥檚 decision to halt prison transfers has led to overcrowding that makes it difficult to quarantine inmates and clean facilities.
Parents are turning to spooky scavenger hunts, pumpkin-carving and movie nights as alternatives to trick-or-treating. Health professionals have their own advice on how to safely celebrate Halloween during the pandemic.
A KHN review found more than 20 states either don鈥檛 count or have incomplete data on the use of COVID-19 antigen tests, leaving the public in the dark about the true scope of the pandemic.
Studies show that at least half of ground ambulance rides across the nation leave patients with 鈥渟urprise鈥 medical bills. And a $300-a-mile ride is not unusual. Yet federal legislation to stem what鈥檚 known as balance billing has largely ignored ambulance costs.
2020 will be a year like no other on college campuses, as every institution makes its own rules. Some have no plans to routinely test students for the coronavirus; others aim to test every student and staff member twice a week.
In a town in the southwestern corner of Missouri, where COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Latino immigrants, language barriers and economic pressures among factory workers have stymied efforts to slow the virus that causes the disease.
President Donald Trump keeps promising a comprehensive plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. And he keeps not delivering. Meanwhile, members of Congress and White House officials seem unable to agree on a new COVID-19 relief bill. And Missouri becomes the sixth state where voters approved a Medicaid expansion ballot measure. Tami Luhby of CNN, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Missouri is the sixth state to use a ballot initiative to extend Medicaid eligibility. Most of the remaining states that have not expanded Medicaid are Republican-leaning states in the South.
Around the country, Medicaid enrollment is up as people who have lost jobs during the pandemic seek health insurance. Expanding eligibility for Missouri鈥檚 program, which could help thousands of recently unemployed residents, will be on the ballot Tuesday.
Missouri Hospital Association says the switch of data collection from the CDC to a new HHS contractor is "a major disruption." In Kansas, the move likely will delay hospitalization data.
In an investigation last year, KHN detailed the rise and fall of Miami businessman Jorge A. Perez鈥檚 rural hospital empire, which spanned eight states and encompassed half of the rural hospital bankruptcies in 2019.
Darnell Hill, a mental health caseworker, is teaching black teens in St. Louis how to safely walk through the park, run to the store or handle an encounter with the police. Beyond tangible skills, he offers comfort and a semblance of control to those for whom birding, running or walking down the street hold the risk of racial violence.
This popular resort area gained national attention for a viral video showing Memorial Day partiers disregarding guidelines to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Now, with summer looming and at least one COVID-19 case connected to the gathering, it reflects the difficult balance between safety and tourism.
The overall crime rate has dropped during the pandemic, but unfortunately gun violence has not. In St. Louis, at least 11 children have been killed by gunfire so far this year. Living in neighborhoods with frequent violence has forced some families to improvise ways to keep their children safe, even in the place they are supposed to be most secure: their home. The stress of growing up in these conditions could lead to chronic health problems into adulthood.
At the start of the spring planting season, farmers across the U.S. heartland were already trying to recover from last year鈥檚 flooding amid worsening economic conditions when the pandemic struck. Farm bankruptcies and suicides continue to climb. A lack of mental health resources in rural America makes finding help more complicated.
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