Lauren Weber | Kaiser Health News

Over half of states have rolled back public health powers during the pandemic, which experts say permanently weakens states’ abilities to protect their constituents’ health.

Academics and officials alike describe rural Americans’ greater rates of poor health and their limited options for medical care as a deadly combination.

While urban hospitals with deeper pockets for shoring up staff have implemented vaccine mandates, and may even use them as a selling point to recruit staffers and patients, their rural and regional counterparts are left with hard choices as cases surge again.

Divisions abound in Missouri, where vaccines are widely available but only 40% of the state has been vaccinated.

The plaintiffs alleged in court documents that Dr. James Stannard did not advise plaintiffs that “the surgery he was proposing has a failure rate as high as 86%.”

In Kirksville, a college town in northern Missouri, Twin Pines Adult Care Center Administrator Jim Richardson said his nursing home is running low on gowns.

Officials at schools like the University of Missouri, which has had 1,600 cases of coronavirus so far, say contact tracing is nearly impossible.

About half of U.S. rural hospitals operate in the red on a good day. Now facing a pandemic, hospital CEOs warn that, without federal help, their doors may close when the community most needs them.

Groupon and other deal sites are the latest marketing tactic in medicine, offering bargain prices. But critics say pursuing such discounts can also entail getting unnecessary or duplicative services.

A federal audit and a whistleblower lawsuit allege that Medicare Advantage plans from the St. Louis-based Essence Group Holdings Corp. have significantly overcharged taxpayers.