Elisabeth Yoder’s son, Darragh, was 15 months old in August when he developed what at first looked to his parents like hand, foot, and mouth disease. The common viral infection generally clears up in less than a week, but Darragh’s condition worsened over several days. His skin turned bright red. Blisters gave way to skin…
Bekki Holzkamm has been trying to hire a lab technician at a hospital in rural North Dakota since late summer. Not one U.S. citizen has applied. West River Health Services in Hettinger, a town of about 1,000 residents in the southwestern part of the state, has four options, and none is good. The hospital could…
The United States is poised to lose its measles-free status next year. If that happens, the country will enter an era in which outbreaks are common again. More children would be hospitalized because of this preventable disease. Some would lose their hearing. Some would die. Measles is also expensive. A new study — not yet…
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Echo Kopplin wants South Dakota’s leaders to know that money from a new $50 billion federal rural health fund should help residents with limited transportation options. Kopplin, a physician assistant who works with seniors, low-income people, and mental health patients in the rural Black Hills, shared her thoughts at a meeting…
FORT HALL RESERVATION, Idaho — Standing atop Ferry Butte, Frances Goli scanned the more than half a million acres of Shoshone-Bannock tribal land below as she dug her hands into the pockets of a pink pullover. The April wind was chilly at one of the tribes’ highest vistas in remote southeastern Idaho. “Our goal is…
We’ve been here before: congressional Democrats and Republicans sparring over the future of the Affordable Care Act. But this time there’s an extra complication. Though it’s the middle of open enrollment, lawmakers are still debating whether to extend the subsidies that have given consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums in recent years. The…
KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed Affordable Care Act subsidies on Crooked Media’s What a Day on Dec. 10 and on Slate’s What Next on Dec. 9. Click here to hear Rovner on What a Day. Click here to hear Rovner on What Next. KFF Health News Washington health policy reporter Amanda…
As cases of seasonal influenza surge, health officials are closely monitoring a growing threat—the potential fusion of human and bird flu strains.
Estados Unidos está a punto de perder su estatus de país libre de sarampión el próximo año. Si eso sucede, entraría en una nueva etapa en la que los brotes volverían a ser comunes. Más niñas y niños serían hospitalizados por esta enfermedad prevenible. Algunos perderían la audición. Algunos morirían. El sarampión también es costoso….
PHILADELPHIA — Leon Harris, de 35 años, conoce por experiencia personal la devastación que puede causar un arma. Hace casi dos décadas, unos ladrones le dispararon por la espalda, dejándolo paralizado del pecho hacia abajo. La bala aún permanece alojada en su columna. “Cuando te disparan, dejas de pensar en el futuro”, dijo. Su esposa,…