health care

Even before becoming president-elect, Joe Biden has been working on a coordinated, national plan for fighting the coronavirus. Among other things, it will empower scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help set national, evidence-

President-Elect Biden Has A Plan To Combat COVID-19. Here's What's In It

2:32pm November 08, 2020

by Allison Aubrey

Coronavirus cases are surging around the country. How will Joe Biden manage the pandemic differently, once he takes office in January? Expect a more centralized U.S. response plan, his team says.

The flawed coronavirus test kits went out to public laboratories in February. An internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review obtained by NPR says the wrong quality control protocols were used.

CDC Report: Officials Knew Coronavirus Test Was Flawed But Released It Anyway

2:22pm November 06, 2020

by Dina Temple-Raston

An unreleased CDC review obtained by NPR shows that lab officials knew an early coronavirus test kit had a high failure rate. They decided not to recall it and sent it to the nation's labs anyway.

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Medical staff members treat a patient with COVID-19 last week in the intensive care unit of United Memorial Medical Center in Houston. Once a COVID-19 vaccine is available, experts say immunizing health workers first is the best way to curb deaths and sto

First COVID-19 Vaccine Doses To Go To Health Workers, Say CDC Advisers

8:26pm November 05, 2020

by Pien Huang

A team of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a science-based outline for deploying a vaccine when it's ready. The goal is to stop deaths and viral spread fast.

COVID-19 can cause symptoms that go well beyond the lungs, from strokes to organ failure. To explain these widespread injuries, researchers are studying how the virus affects the vascular system.

Clots, Strokes And Rashes. Is COVID-19 A Disease Of The Blood Vessels?

7:12pm November 05, 2020

by Will Stone

COVID-19 can cause symptoms that go well beyond the lungs, from strokes to organ failure. To explain these widespread injuries, researchers are studying how the virus affects the vascular system.

CDC Immunization Committee Chair On Coronavirus Vaccination Logistics

4:06pm November 05, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Jose Romero, chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's immunization committee, about the committee's recommendations for coronavirus vaccination.

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Health care professionals gather outside Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis in June to demonstrate in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A New Hippocratic Oath Asks Doctors To Fight Racial Injustice And Misinformation

12:08pm November 04, 2020

by Sarah Boden

At the University of Pittsburgh, new medical students recited an alternative oath, drawing on current events and recent political turmoil to highlight the societal responsibilities of doctors.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's first opportunity to weigh in on abortion and contraception could come as early as this week, as the high court decides whether to take up a Mississippi case.

How An Abortion Fight In Supreme Court Could Threaten Birth Control, Too

5:00am November 03, 2020

by Julie Rovner

In talk of the impact Amy Coney Barrett could have on abortion rights, many people overlook related cases that might be in play, including the right to birth control that the court recognized in 1965.

People stand in line for early voting at the John F. Kennedy Library on Oct. 27 in Hialeah, Fla.

More Than Politics On The Line For Voters With Preexisting Conditions

11:40pm November 02, 2020

by Will Stone

As many as 130 million Americans have a preexisting health condition. Protections for those patients under the Affordable Care Act have become a campaign issue in races up and down the ballot.

Health care activists rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2017, to protest Republican efforts that would have dismantled the Affordable Care Act and capped federal payments for Medicaid patients. The Republican congressional bills, part of t

Health & Safety

Medicaid's Future Hinges On Who Wins The White House

5:09am November 02, 2020

by Blake Farmer

The Trump administration has given states ways to restrict spending on the government insurance program for low-income Americans. A Biden administration would expand Medicaid coverage.

Why The U.S. Has A Problem With Hospital Capacity

6:05pm October 31, 2020

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Nancy Foster, of the American Hospital Association, about the strain the coronavirus pandemic is putting on U.S. hospitals — and why so many struggle with capacity.

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