Rachana Pradhan - Kaiser Health News

The pandemic has overwhelmed understaffed state Medicaid agencies, and as Biden's COVID-19 public health emergency declaration ends, low-income people could find it even harder to get coverage.

CMS chief Chiquita Brooks-LaSure says the agency reserves its power to quickly institute new regulations for “absolute emergencies.” On staffing, nursing home residents might need to wait years to see any real change.

State Medicaid agencies for months have been preparing for the end of a federal mandate that has prevented states from removing people from the safety-net program during the pandemic.

As omicron surges, more nursing homes are facing a double whammy: Lab tests are taking too long, and fast antigen tests are in short supply.

Just 18% of 5- to 11-year-olds are fully vaccinated, with rates varying significantly across the country, a KHN analysis of federal data shows. Pediatricians say the slow pace and geographic disparities are alarming.

As hospitals juggle holiday COVID surges and all their other patients, the global supply chain crisis has left them short of critical supplies.

You probably won't be testing everyone at your Thanksgiving table for COVID because the tests are expensive and hard to find. The federal government is partly to blame.

President Biden's failure to name someone to head the Food and Drug Administration has perplexed public health experts who say it's baffling for the agency to be leaderless during the pandemic.

Many experts say the evidence doesn’t justify widespread booster shots for adults.

More than 200,000 doses of COVID vaccine have gone to waste since December, KHN has learned. Two national pharmacy chains account for most of it.