An annual report from the American Lung Association found that from 2021 to 2023, ozone levels worsened in the 19 counties where they are measured.
Health
Primary care shortage has an outsized impact on rural Missouri
Rural Missourians tend to be older and have more chronic health conditions. It makes a consistent primary care provider more important, but rural patients have the least access to them.
Federal judge strikes down COVID-era Missouri law that placed a gag order on pharmacists
The judge said a 2022 law that prevented pharmacists from contacting patients about the efficacy of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine was unconstitutional.
Massive cuts to federal health care grants alarm Kansas City’s public health community
The grants paid for public health basics like vaccines for children, infectious disease tracking, community health work and funding for mental health and addiction treatment.
Trump administration’s cuts cancel food deliveries to Harvesters
The food bank, which provides food to pantries and other hunger outreach groups in Missouri and Kansas, will not get scheduled shipments of milk, eggs, chicken and canned goods.
Billions at stake in Missouri and Kansas if proposed Medicaid, SNAP cuts move forward
The cuts could lead to nearly 30,000 jobs lost across Missouri and Kansas health care systems and food suppliers, a new study found.
A surge in mental health care needs for uninsured Kansans could lead to cuts in services
Community health centers have to take patients regardless of ability to pay. More patients are coming in and many don’t have insurance that can cover the cost of care.
It is illegal to try certain experimental medications in Kansas. Terminally ill Kansans might soon have options.
New medicines are being developed for individual treatments based on someone’s DNA. Those would be allowed under a proposed bill.
LGBTQ+ youth in Missouri and Kansas face higher suicide risk
In Missouri and Kansas, almost four in 10 young people who identify as gay or transgender have seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 15% have attempted it. That’s according to a new survey by The Trevor Project, which asked 18,000 people ages 13 to 24 across the country questions about issues like depression […]
‘It will be devastating’: Providers fear what Trump’s second term could mean for federal family planning funds
In a lawsuit last year, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued in favor of restricting access to abortion-inducing drugs. If they aren’t restricted, he said, the state could lose federal dollars due to a lack of teen pregnancies, leading to a decline in the state’s population. Now, amid funding cuts, executive orders and layoffs for […]