In Southern California, pollutants from wildfire smoke caused up to a 10% increase in hospital admissions. Researchers say there's a need for better air monitoring and public health programs.
Nonwhite Americans looking for care for a loved one are much more likely than whites to encounter discrimination, language barriers, and providers who lack cultural competence, a new report finds.
Without federal tracking, no one knows how many people in disability group housing have fallen ill or died from the virus. And few states are prioritizing them for vaccination.
Guidance from the CDC on who should be prioritized to get the COVID-19 vaccine was meant to be flexible and inclusive. But "the attempt to have equity created more inequity," says one researcher.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Matthew Walzer, who at age 16 wrote a letter to Nike back in 2012 that helped inspire the brand's new accessible shoe line.
With vaccine still scarce, and eligibility differing from place to place, some people have easier access to "extra" doses than others. Careful, ethicists warn. Going out of turn is a slippery slope.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will create a task force charged with researching the benefits of outdoor recreation in an effort to help reduce veteran suicides.
New Yorker writer John Colapinto developed a vocal polyp when he began "wailing" with a rock group without proper warmup. His new book explores the human voice's physicality, frailty and feats .
Everyone is trying to figure out how relationships work in the pandemic. That includes a couple keeping their love alive, ever since their group homes for adults with disabilities went into lockdown.
Lou Gehrig's disease can take months to diagnose, then rapidly incapacitate patients, leaving many families bankrupt before disability payments and Medicare kick in. A recent law aims to change that.
New actions from the Office For Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services aim to fight discrimination against people with disabilities who have COVID-19, like being denied treatment.
The plan, long endorsed by conservatives, would give the state broad flexibility in running its health insurance program for the poor, while capping annual federal funding for the program.
One of my patients in this devastating year stands out — a veteran who'd survived PTSD, cancer and family estrangement. Assisted living raised his COVID-19 risk, but also brought him community.
The fight to save the life of one woman reveals a grim pattern: In Oregon, people with disabilities were denied health care during the pandemic, even without a shortage of ventilators or other care.
As the first patient to receive an experimental treatment that relied on the gene-editing technique CRISPR continues to do well 17 months later, more patients seem to be benefiting, too.
Eleven months into the COVID-19 crisis, an unimaginable death toll has been reached. NPR spoke to doctors, nurses and the bereaved about how they face loss every day.
In the U.S., front-line health care workers are likely first in line to get immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine, once the FDA says yes. But what about the rest of us? Here's what we know so far.
The rule would require health officials to review about 2,400 regulations on everything from Medicare benefits to prescription drugs approvals. Those not analyzed within two years would become void.
Anyone with lingering effects of COVID-19 should be extra careful in picking a 2021 health plan, specialists say. You now have a "pre-existing condition" that could increase medical expenses in 2021.
American Airlines reversed a recent policy that banned wheelchairs weighing more than 300 pounds, which includes many power wheelchairs, from some of its regional jets following an NPR report.
A newly approved drug can extend the lives of children with progeria, a rare disorder that causes rapid aging. The drug is the result of one family's effort to help a child with the fatal condition.
The Trump administration has been marked by a scaled-back federal investment and involvement in U.S. health care. Biden's team has plans to change that — even if Republicans retain Senate control.
A new policy from American Airlines, the largest airline in the United States, put a limit on the weight of a wheelchair. Now, many power wheelchairs are too heavy to fly on smaller regional jets.
Most nursing homes are connected by shared staff to seven others. Instead of limiting workers to one facility to curb COVID-19 spread, advocates urge better pay and more PPE for nursing home staff.
Researchers launched a major study of an experimental Alzheimer's drug this summer. They also learned a lot about how to protect participants who must make frequent visits to a medical center.
