Access to health care

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump is returning to Washington after visiting his Mar-a-Lago resort. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
December 31, 2020 - 5:13 pm

Trump Extends Visa Ban, Health Coverage Policy Advances

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday extended pandemic-related bans on green cards and work visas to large groups of applicants through March 31, while a federal appeals court sided with him on a rule that requires new immigrants to have their own health insurance. The twin...
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Nurses and medical staff make their way through the seventh floor COVID-19 unit at East Alabama Medical Center Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. COVID-19 patients occupy most of the beds in ICU in addition to the non-critical patients on the seventh floor. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)
December 29, 2020 - 2:47 pm

'like A Bathtub Filling Up': Alabama Is Slammed By The Virus

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — With its dozen intensive care beds already full, Cullman Regional Medical Center began looking desperately for options as more and more COVID-19 patients showed up. Ten beds normally used for less severe cases were transformed into intensive care rooms, with extra IV...
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December 24, 2020 - 8:25 am

Kenya: Doctors Call Off Strike, Nurses Continue Picketing

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Doctors, pharmacists and dentists in Kenya called off a three-day strike over inadequate personal protective equipment and insurance Thursday after the government acquiesced to their most immediate demands. However, most other health workers remained on strike as nurses and...
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District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference about the COVID-19 vaccine with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams at George Washington University Hospital, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
December 18, 2020 - 7:57 pm

Maryland, Virginia Donate Vaccine Doses To Washington, Dc

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials in the District of Columbia are accustomed to being short-changed in different ways. There's the long-standing issue of D.C.'s quest for statehood and proper representation in Congress. And when the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package was passed by Congress in...
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, file photo, a doctor tends to patients in his office in Illinois. The consulting firm Mercer says large U.S. employers saw their smallest health care cost increase in more than two decades in 2020, due to COVID-19, and workers may benefit from that in 2021. Patients stayed home and out of doctor’s offices this year to avoid the global pandemic. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
December 08, 2020 - 4:41 pm

Pandemic Tames Health Care Cost Growth For Some Employers

Large U.S. employers saw their smallest health care cost increase in more than two decades due to COVID-19, and workers may benefit from that next year, according to the consulting firm Mercer. Patients stayed home and out of doctor’s offices this year to avoid the global pandemic, and that led to...
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FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, file photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra talks to reporters after a news conference at UCLA. President-elect Joe Biden has picked Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
December 07, 2020 - 4:35 pm

Becerra's Big Challenge: Vaccinating Americans Against Virus

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — In choosing Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, President-elect Joe Biden tapped a robust defender of the Affordable Care Act who will face questions about whether he possesses the health care and management experience needed to lead the massive effort to vaccinate a...
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FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2018, file photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra discusses various issues during an interview with The Associated Press, in Sacramento, Calif. President-elect Joe Biden has picked Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
December 07, 2020 - 8:33 am

Biden Picks Xavier Becerra To Lead Hhs, Coronavirus Response

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response. Separately, Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease...
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ARCHIVO - En esta fotografía de archivo del 4 de diciembre de 2019, Xavier Becerra, procurador general de California, habla en una conferencia de prensa en Sacramento, California. (AP Foto/Rich Pedroncelli, archivo)
Associated Press
December 06, 2020 - 5:15 pm

Biden picks CA AG Becerra to lead HHS, pandemic response

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response. If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the...
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FILE - In this file photo dated Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, World Health Organization President Tedros Adhanom speaks to the press during the World Health Organization conference on noncommunicable diseases in Montevideo, Uruguay. At a meeting of WHO’s member states, Monday Nov. 9, 2020, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he welcomed “any and all attempts to strengthen the organization...for the sake of the people we serve." as WHO faces calls for an independent review on its handling of the global COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico, FILE)
December 04, 2020 - 8:42 pm

Un Health Chief: World Can Start Dreaming Of Pandemic's End

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. health chief declared Friday that positive results from coronavirus vaccine trials mean the world “can begin to dream about the end of the pandemic,” but he said rich and powerful nations must not trample the poor and marginalized “in the stampede for vaccines.” In an...
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This Wednesday, July 22, 2020, photo provided by C2N Diagnostics shows equipment in a lab that analyzes blood samples at the company's facility in the Center for Emerging Technologies in St. Louis. C2N Diagnostics has started selling the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a leap for the field that could make it much easier for people to learn whether they have dementia. It also raises concern about the accuracy and impact of such life-altering news. (Jerry Naunheim Jr./C2N Diagnostics via AP)
November 30, 2020 - 7:02 am

First Blood Test To Help Diagnose Alzheimer's Goes On Sale

A company has started selling the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a leap for the field that could make it much easier for people to learn whether they have dementia. It also raises concern about the accuracy and impact of such life-altering news. Independent experts are leery...
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