health care

As COVID-19 Cases Soar, El Paso Convention Center Becomes Hospital

5:23pm November 15, 2020

by Mallory Falk

Texas recently surpassed a million confirmed coronavirus cases — the most in the United States. Nowhere is the surge more acute than in El Paso, which is being hammered by soaring cases and deaths.

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U.S. pandemic response needs a fresh lens: equity.

OPINION: To Solve The Pandemic, Biden Must Focus On Equity

9:11am November 13, 2020

Doctors who helped stop Ebola call on Joe Biden's transition team to address COVID-19's racial and economic inequities. The evidence shows a safety net under the most vulnerable protects us all.

Medical staff treat a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on Nov. 10.

'You Can See The Regret': ICU Nurse On Patients Who Failed To Take COVID Precautions

10:02pm November 12, 2020

by Audie Cornish

Lydia Mobley is a traveling ICU nurse who is currently working at a hospital in central Michigan. She describes how hard it has been treating patients during the current surge in coronavirus cases.

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Illinois Health Care Workers Say Hospitals Will Run Out Of ICU Beds By Thanksgiving

5:04pm November 12, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Vineet Arora, a hospitalist at the University of Chicago, about warning Illinois officials that hospitals will run out of intensive care unit bed by Thanksgiving.

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HHS Official On Dealing With Health Crisis In Trump Administration

3:46pm November 12, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services about dealing with the pandemic and navigating the ups and downs of the Trump administration.

Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, sold millions of dollars' worth of company stock on Monday as part of a preset plan. But NPR found irregularities about when the CEO entered into that plan.

Pfizer CEO Sold Millions In Stock After Coronavirus Vaccine News, Raising Questions

8:32pm November 11, 2020

by Tom Dreisbach

Pfizer's CEO sold $5.6 million worth of stock on Monday. The company says the stock sale was made as part of a preset plan. But NPR found irregularities about when the CEO entered into that plan.

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NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center in north Minneapolis started as part of a 14-city pilot program funded by President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. It's the only one of those health and social services clinics still in business.

Health & Safety

How A Minneapolis Clinic Is Narrowing Racial Gaps In Health

4:56pm November 11, 2020

by Yuki Noguchi

For five decades, NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center has confronted the ways disparities can hurt its patients' health. Community leaders say it's a model for cities facing similar struggles.

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South Dakota Doctor On How His Hospital Is Strained As Coronavirus Cases Surge

4:02pm November 11, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Shankar Kurra, vice president of medical affairs at Rapid City Hospital in South Dakota, about the staffing shortage at his hospital amid the surge of coronavirus cases.

Pretty Mkhabela, a HIV-positive sex worker in South Africa, gets antiretroviral drugs delivered to her house as part of a campaign to maintain treatment for HIV-positive patients during the pandemic. A new drug called cabotegravir could give women more op

Protecting Women Against HIV Just Got 9 Times Easier

1:33pm November 11, 2020

by Jason Beaubien

A single injection of a drug called cabotegravir given every two months has been shown to be more effective than a daily oral dose of Truvada.

President-elect Joe Biden's plan to lower the eligibility age for Medicare is popular among voters but is expected to face strong opposition on Capitol Hill.

Biden Wants To Lower Medicare Eligibility Age To 60, But Hospitals Push Back

9:00am November 11, 2020

by Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News

Hospitals, a powerful political force in health care, fear lowering the eligibility age for Medicare will cost them billions of dollars because federal reimbursements are less than private insurance.