Latest California Healthline Stories
Why Even Presidential Pressure Might Not Get More Vaccine to Market Faster
Even invoking the widely heralded Defense Production Act to pressure drugmakers wouldn’t overcome vast obstacles.
Amid Covid Health Worker Shortage, Foreign-Trained Professionals Sit on Sidelines
Hospitals dealing with staff shortages during the current covid surge are unable to tap into one valuable resource: foreign-trained doctors, nurses and other health workers, many with experience treating infectious diseases. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Nevada are the only states to have eased credentialing requirements during the pandemic.
Vaccine Ramp-Up Squeezes Covid Testing and Tracing
The ability of California health officials to multitask in a pandemic will be severely tested as they scramble to find staff for vaccination sites while maintaining testing and contact tracing.
Health Issues Carried Weight on the Campaign Trail. What Could Biden Do in His First 100 Days?
KHN has teamed up with PolitiFact to track what becomes of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promises over the next four years. As he moves into the West Wing, what are his chances of making progress on health care?
Trump’s Pardons Included Health Care Execs Behind Massive Frauds
Faustino Bernadett, who was convicted in a $30 million kickback scheme that referred spinal surgeries to his hospital, is among those pardoned for “major, major crimes.”
Covid Vaccine Rollout Leaves Most Older Adults Confused Where to Get Shots
Nearly 6 in 10 people 65 and older say they don’t have enough information about how to get vaccinated, according to a new KFF poll.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Biden Health Agenda
President Joe Biden is wasting no time getting to work. On his first day in office, Biden signed a series of executive orders addressing the covid pandemic, promising more to come. But even with Democrats taking the barest majority in the Senate, the new president’s ambitious proposals on covid and other health issues could be in for a rough ride. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too.
Yurts, Igloos and Pop-Up Domes: How Safe Is ‘Outside’ Restaurant Dining This Winter?
All kinds of new structures are popping up to extend the outdoor dining season. Some are safer than others.
After a Decade of Lobbying, ALS Patients Gain Faster Access to Disability Payments
In late December, then-President Donald Trump signed a law that eliminates — only for people with Lou Gehrig’s disease — the required five-month waiting period before benefits begin under the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Gaining SSDI also gives these patients immediate Medicare health coverage.
Biden Takes the Reins, Calls for a United Front Against Covid and Other Threats
On health care, President Joe Biden made it clear that combating the covid-19 pandemic will be his top priority. “We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation,” he said. “We will get through this together.”