Don’t Fall for This Video: Hydroxychloroquine Is Not a COVID-19 Cure

“This virus has a cure. It is called hydroxychloroquine, zinc and Zithromax. I know you people want to talk about a mask. Hello? You don’t need [a] mask. There is a cure.”Stella Immanuel,  during a July 27 press conferenceThis story was produced in partnership with PolitiFact.This story can be republished for free (details). Millions of people, including the president of the United States, have seen or shared a video in which a doctor falsely claims there is a cure for the coronavirus, and it’s a medley starring hydroxychloroquine.The video shows several doctors in white coats giving a press conference outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. It persists on social media despite bans from Facebook, Twitter...

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Don’t Count on Lower Premiums Despite Pandemic-Driven Boon for Insurers

Use Our ContentThis story can be republished for free (details).When COVID-19 smacked the United States in March and April, health plans feared medical costs could skyrocket, jacking up premiums drastically in 2021, when millions of the newly unemployed might still be out of work.But something else happened: Non-COVID care collapsed as hospitals emptied beds and shut down operating rooms to prepare for an expected onslaught of patients sickened by the coronavirus, while fear of contracting it kept people away from ERs, doctors’ offices and outpatient clinics. In many regions of the country, the onslaught did not come, and the billions of dollars lost by hospitals and physicians constituted huge savings for health plans, fattening their bottom...

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Avoiding Care During the Pandemic Could Mean Life or Death

These days, Los Angeles acting teacher Deryn Warren balances her pain with her fear. She’s a bladder cancer patient who broke her wrist in November. She still needs physical therapy for her wrist, and she’s months late for a cancer follow-up.But Warren won’t go near a hospital, even though she says her wrist hurts every day.“If I go back to the hospital, I’ll get COVID. Hospitals are full of COVID people,” says Warren, a former film director and author of the book “How to Make Your Audience Fall in Love With You.”“Doctors say, ‘Come back for therapy,’ and my answer is, ‘No, thank you.’”Don't Miss A StorySubscribe to KHN’s free Weekly Edition newsletter, delivered every Friday.Many, many patients like Warren are shunning hospitals and clinics....

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KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Republicans in COVID Disarray

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud.President Donald Trump’s pivot to a more serious view of the coronavirus pandemic didn’t last long. This week, he was again touting hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that has not been shown to work against the virus. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans continue to struggle to come up with a proposal for the next round of COVID-19 relief even as earlier bills expire. That’s leaving millions of Americans without the ability to pay rent or meet other necessary expenses, as the economy continues to sink.Also on the agenda, at least briefly, is the subject of high drug prices. Once considered a leading health issue for the 2020 elections, it has been all but wiped from...

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Get the Data: Hollowed-Out Public Health System Faces More Cuts Amid Virus

How We Reported ‘Underfunded And Under Threat’To assess the state of the public health system in the United States, KHN and The Associated Press analyzed data on government spending and staffing at national, state and local levels.We explain what data we used and how we did it.There is no comprehensive data on government public health spending and staffing in the U.S., and KHN and the Associated Press spent months gathering different datasets, each measuring a slightly different concept of “public health,” into a unique repository of public health data at the local, county and state levels.Now, we’re releasing our public health infrastructure data on Github for journalists, researchers and interested readers to use.The U.S. public health system...

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Namaste Noir: Yoga Co-Op Seeks to Diversify Yoga to Heal Racialized Trauma

DENVER — Beverly Grant spent years juggling many roles before yoga helped her restore her balance.When not doting over her three children, she hosted her public affairs talk radio show, attended community meetings or handed out cups of juice at her roving Mo’ Betta Green MarketPlace farmers market, which has brought local, fresh foods and produce to this city’s food deserts for more than a decade.Her busy schedule came to an abrupt halt on July 1, 2018, when her youngest son, Reese, 17, was fatally stabbed outside a Denver restaurant. He’d just graduated from high school and was weeks from starting at the University of Northern Colorado.“It’s literally a shock to your system,” Grant, 58, said of the grief that flooded her. “You feel physical...

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Medi-Cal Agency’s New Head Wants to Tackle Disparities and Racism

Use Our ContentThis story can be republished for free (details).When Will Lightbourne looked at the statistics behind California’s coronavirus cases, the disparities were “blindingly clear”: Blacks and Latinos are dying at higher rates than most other Californians.As of Monday, Latinos account for 45.6% of coronavirus deaths in a state where they make up 38.9% of the population, according to data collected by the California Department of Public Health. Blacks account for 8.5% of the deaths but make up 6% of the population.Lightbourne, who led California’s Department of Social Services under Gov. Jerry Brown, describes this pandemic as one that “rips the bandage off” a health care system long riddled with inequity.So, when Gov. Gavin Newsom...

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Missourians to Vote on Medicaid Expansion as Crisis Leaves Millions Without Insurance

This story also ran on NPR. This story can be republished for free (details). ST. LOUIS — Haley Organ thought she had everything figured out. After graduating from a small private college just outside Boston, she earned her master’s degree, entered the workforce and eventually landed a corporate job here as a data analyst.Life seemed to be going as planned until the national retailer that Organ worked for announced furloughs during the coronavirus pandemic. After nine weeks of mandatory leave, the 35-year-old was laid off. The company gave her a severance package and put an expiration date on her health insurance plan.“I haven’t slept the whole night since about March,” Organ said earlier this summer. “I can’t turn my brain off, just worrying...

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Public Health Experts Fear a Hasty FDA Signoff on Vaccine

This story also ran on HuffPost. This story can be republished for free (details). The vaccine trial that Vice President Mike Pence kicked off in Miami on Monday gives the United States the tiniest chance of being ready to vaccinate millions of Americans just before Election Day.It’s a possibility that fills many public health experts with dread.Among their concerns: Early evidence that any vaccine works would lead to political pressure from the administration for emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration. That conflict between science and politics might cause some people to not trust the vaccine and refuse to take it, which would undermine the global campaign to stop the pandemic. Or it could lead to a product that is not fully...

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