The little girl stared up at Norma Gómez from the doorway of her neighbor’s apartment, her sad, brown eyes suddenly flashing with hope. “Are you the person who’s going to bring my mom back?” she asked. Gómez struggled to find an answer. It was a December morning, and she’d brought food, diapers, baby wipes, and…
By EMANUEL SARKEES Most people assume that when they need a doctor, a doctor will be available. That assumption is getting harder to hold onto. Right now, more than 83 million Americans live in highlighted Health Professional Shortage Areas, which is the government’s official notice that where they live does not have enough physicians to…
KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed Louisiana sheriffs’ spending of opioid settlement payouts on Attitude With Arnie Arnesen on Sept. 1. Pattani also discussed addressing loneliness and isolation as part of suicide prevention on Good Faith Media’s Our Stigma on Aug. 31. Click here to hear Pattani on Attitude With Arnie Arnesen, starting at…
WAIANAE, Hawai‘i — Native Hawaiians will need to comply with new work requirements to qualify for Medicaid after being excluded from exemptions carved out for other Indigenous groups, an omission that clinicians fear will exacerbate the challenges the marginalized population already faces in getting healthcare. In 43 states and the District of Columbia, President Donald…
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Imbalance of Power — And Healthcare Why can members of Congress remain on full taxpayer-funded salaries during prolonged medical absences while millions of working Americans cannot afford to get sick? (Kennedy,…
For several years, Nicole Straight and Patricia Wood, who lived across the street from each other in Sausalito, California, were more neighbors than friends, exchanging sociable greetings and occasionally having coffee. Then, last October, Wood took a fall, broke her neck, and spent three months in rehabilitation. When she returned to the house she shares…
A federal judge in July gave digital equity advocates a partial victory against President Donald Trump, stopping his attempt to unilaterally kill a multibillion-dollar grant program Congress created. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, in a 35-page opinion, also agreed with the administration that it was unconstitutional for the government to use race or…
TROY, N.Y. — Like many residents of this aging industrial city on the Hudson River, Starletta Washington was stunned when she heard Troy’s last remaining hospital planned to close its birthing center. “It was devastating,” said Washington, who heads the local YWCA. Washington was born at the hospital and had her children there. She couldn’t…
AUSTIN, Texas — Musician Zack Morgan jokes that when he lost his corporate job in 2015, it was like being pushed off a cliff. For years, he said, he’d been playing both sides of the Austin coin: tech worker by day, funk keyboardist by night. “Maybe this is my sign to try the full-time music…
By DAVID INTROCASO The Problem From an anthropocentric perspective, the climate crisis is fundamentally a threat to human health and survival. The US healthcare industry significantly contributes to this threat. US healthcare’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) annually account for over 600 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents or ~10% of total US annual GHG…