Journalism Grants

Funding For:

The Drivers of Health Care Costs, Their Impacts & Solutions

Health Disparities / Affordability / Cost & Quality


Recipient:

The Conversation

Grant Period:

Nov 01, 2022 - Dec 31, 2024

AMOUNT:

$50,000.00

Summary of the Project:

This series will report what rising health care costs means for the health care system and health care consumers, as well as share potential solutions from academic research.

About the Grantee:

The Conversation brings together editors and academics to translate research into accessible content for the public, reaching more than 20 million people a month. On average, stories are republished in 15-20 news outlets, including via the Associated Press wire and in local papers.


Grantee Publications

March 8, 2024

Asthma meds have become shockingly unaffordable − but relief may be on the way

The price of asthma medication has soared in the U.S. over the past decade and a half. The increase in price has meant that patients in need of asthma-related products often struggle to buy them. Others simply can’t afford them.

Learn More

Author: Ana Santos Rutschman

January 29, 2024

Nonprofit hospitals have an obligation to help their communities, but the people who live nearby may see little benefit

Even though the federal government requires nonprofit hospitals to regularly assess the health needs of their surrounding communities and publicly post a plan to address those concerns, many people living nearby struggle to get basic health care.

Learn More

Author: Jonathan Wynn and Daniel Skinner

June 15, 2023

American Indians forced to attend boarding schools as children are more likely to be in poor health as adults

Many American Indians attended compulsory boarding schools in the 1900s or have relatives who did. My family is no different. Three generations of Running Bears – my grandparents, parents and those from my own generation – attended these residential schools over a period stretching from approximately 1907 to the mid-1970s.

Learn More

Author: Ursula Running Bear

June 9, 2023

Drawing, making music and writing poetry can support healing and bring more humanity to health care in US hospitals

The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the deep need that people feel for human touch and connection in hospital settings. Having relatives peering through windows at their loved ones or unable to enter hospitals altogether exacerbated the lack of human intimacy that is all too common in health care settings.

Learn More

Author: Marlaine Figueroa Gray

May 16, 2023

Gay men can now donate blood after FDA changes decades-old rule – a health policy researcher explains the benefits

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on May 11, 2023, that it has officially dropped restrictions that prohibit gay and bisexual men from donating blood under many circumstances on May 11, 2023. The ban was initially put in place in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, but for years medical professionals and gay rights advocates have argued that the ban was no longer medically justifiable and that it unnecessarily discriminated against men who have sex with men. Ayako Miyashita is a health policy researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies HIV treatment and prevention. She explains the history of the ban and the reasoning behind its long-awaited reversal.

Learn More

Author: Ayako Miyashita

May 5, 2023

Knowing how to talk to kids about healthful eating is key. MI PHAM/Unsplash Obesity in children is rising dramatically, and it comes with major – and sometimes lifelong – health consequences

In the past two decades, children have become more obese and have developed obesity at a younger age. A 2020 report found that 14.7 million children and adolescents in the U.S. live with obesity.

Learn More

Author: Christine Nguyen

May 3, 2023

Black mothers trapped in unsafe neighborhoods signal the stressful health toll of gun violence in the U.S.

Black mothers are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to the mental and physical harms of stress from living with gun violence in America. In the U.S., Black people are likelier than white people to reside in impoverished, racially segregated communities with high levels of gun violence. Research has suggested that living in violent and unsafe environments can result in continuous traumatic stress, a constant form of PTSD. Researchers have also linked experiences of violence and poverty to an increased risk of chronic disease such as cancer and cardiovascular, respiratory and neurodegenerative diseases.

Learn More

Author: Loren Henderson & Ruby Mendenhall

April 26, 2023

Mifepristone is under scrutiny in the courts, but it has been used safely and effectively around the world for decades

The Conversation asked Grace Shih, a family physician practicing in Washington state, to explain the science behind mifepristone as well as its safety and efficacy.

Learn More

Author: Grace Shih

April 20, 2023

Hopelessness about the future is a key reason some Black young adults consider suicide, new study finds

Feeling hopeless about the future is one of the primary reasons Black young adults consider suicide. That is one of the key findings from a new study I published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Hopelessness proved to be the most common reason that Black men considered suicide, and it was one of the most common reasons Black women consider suicide.

Learn More

Author: Janelle R. Goodwill

February 3, 2023

Native Americans have experienced a dramatic decline in life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic – but the drop has been in the making for generations

Six and one-half years. That’s the decline in life expectancy that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought upon American Indians and Alaska Natives, based on an August 2022 report from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Learn More

Author: Allison Kelliher