Kaiser Health News

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Philanthropies are funding studies of cheap, existing medications like the antidepressant fluvoxamine — sold under the brand name Luvox — as COVID treatments./Wikimedia Commons

Scientists Seek COVID Treatment Answers in Cheap, Older Drugs

A few scientists say that two small studies indicate that a decades-old antidepressant that costs $10 for a two-week course could be used to fight COVID.

Mar 29, 2021

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SHUTTERSTOCK

Lots of Health Insurance Help in Covid Relief Law — But Do Your Homework First

Mar 24, 2021

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SHUTTERSTOCK

Democrats Gave Americans a Big Boost Buying Health Insurance. It Didn’t Come Cheap.

Mar 24, 2021

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A health care worker unpacks the Pfizer vaccine at Oregon Health & Science University. | OHSU

The Case for Donating US COVID Vaccines Overseas

“We need to take care of the problem everywhere to be able to take care of it anywhere,” says Dr. Mark Feinberg, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Mar 22, 2021

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President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris./Shutterstock

Landmark COVID Relief Law Pumps More Than $100 Billion Into Public Health

Public advocates say that more sustained funding will be needed over the next decade and beyond to address long-festering problems.

Mar 18, 2021

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SHUTTERSTOCK

Can Vaccination and Infection Rates Add Up to Reach COVID Herd Immunity?

With three vaccines — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — now authorized for emergency use in the United States, there seems to be hope that the pandemic’s end may be in sight.

Mar 17, 2021

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COVID-19 symptoms can last for months./Conscious Design on Unsplash

For COVID ‘Long Haulers,’ Battling for Disability Benefits Adds Aggravation to Exhaustion

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are experiencing what is being called “long COVID” — a pattern of prolonged symptoms following an acute bout of the disease.

Mar 10, 2021

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Stephanie Salazar-Rodriguez is paying about $10,000 a year for premiums and is afraid she will have to run up her credit card or have to find extra work to afford it.Rachel Woolf for Kaiser Health News

Pandemic Aid Package Includes Relief From High Premiums

Mar 9, 2021

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ASHKAN FOROUZANI ON UNSPLASH

Coronavirus Deranges the Immune System in Complex and Deadly Ways

Scientists say unprepared immune cells appear to be responding to the coronavirus with a devastating release of chemicals, inflicting damage that may endure long after the threat has been eliminated.

Mar 4, 2021

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Pictured is a CDC scientist preparing a patient sample for testing. | JAMES GATHANY/CDC

Have a Case of a COVID Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You

Federal rules around who can be told about the variant cases are so confusing that public health officials may merely know the county where a case has emerged.

Feb 25, 2021