Author

Laura Ungar

Laura Ungar has been a journalist for nearly three decades, including for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, USA Today, the Hartford Courant in Connecticut and The News Journal in Delaware. She has covered health for more than half her career, writing about issues ranging from cancer disparities to lead in water to the largest HIV outbreak in rural America.

Health

The Gender Vaccine Gap: More Women Than Men Are Getting Covid Shots

Laura Ungar Apr 12, 2021

More women than men are getting covid vaccines, even as more men are dying of the disease. Photo credit ShutterStock.com, licensed. ST LOUIS, MO - Mary Ann Steiner drove 2½ hours from her home in the St. Louis suburb of University City…

Health

Need Amid Plenty: Richest US Counties Are Overwhelmed by Surge in Child Hunger

Laura Ungar Mar 18, 2021

Alexandra Sierra and one of her daughters hug outside their home in Bergen County, New Jersey, on March 9. Photo credit: Caroline Gutman / for KHN ENGLEWOOD, NJ - Alexandra Sierra carried boxes of food to her kitchen counter, where her…

Education

‘We’re Not Controlling It in Our Schools’: Covid Safety Lapses Abound Across U.S.

Laura Ungar Jan 27, 2021

President Joe Biden’s covid response proposes $130 billion to improve school safety, offers federal guidance for making schools safer and improves workplace protections to safeguard teachers and other workers from covid. Photo credit…

Health

As the Vulnerable Wait, Some Political Leaders’ Spouses Get COVID Vaccines

Laura Ungar Jan 9, 2021

Nowhere on the list of prioritized recipients of covid-19 vaccines are public officials’ spouses, yet the first ladies of Kentucky and West Virginia; Vice President Pence’s wife, Karen Pence; President-elect Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden;…

Health

Children’s Hospitals Partly to Blame as Superbugs Increasingly Attack Kids

Laura Ungar Jan 4, 2021

Christina Fuhrman contracted a C. diff infection in 2012, and her daughter Pearl contracted one in 2015. C. diff, a bacterium causing diarrhea and colitis, is a superbug fueled by the overuse of antibiotics. Photo credit: Matthew Matlock. …

Health

Thousands of Doctors’ Offices Buckle Under Financial Stress of COVID

Laura Ungar Nov 30, 2020

Although no one tracks medical closures, recent research suggests they number in the thousands. A survey by the Physicians Foundation estimated that 8% of all physician practices nationally — around 16,000 — have closed under the stress of…

Health

With No Legal Guardrails for Patients, Ambulances Drive Surprise Medical Billing

Laura Ungar Sep 14, 2020

School librarian Amanda Brasfield says that from now on she’ll think twice about taking an ambulance unless she has a life-threatening injury or illness. She got a $1,206 out-of-network bill for a 4-mile ambulance ride in Findlay, Ohio. …

Health

Essential and in Danger: Coronavirus Sickens, Even Kills Health Workers

Laura Ungar Jul 22, 2020

Chantee Mack (left), a 44-year-old disease intervention specialist for Maryland’s Prince George’s County, died in May after contracting COVID-19. Her brother Roland Mack (right) says his family is devastated. “I feel alone now that she’s…

Business

COVID-19 Crisis Threatens Beleaguered Assisted Living Industry

Laura Ungar Apr 9, 2020

Assisted living complexes, home to more than 800,000 people nationwide, have quickly become a new and dangerous theater in the coronavirus war. Challenged by deepening financial pressures, sicker residents, limited oversight and too few…

Health

Hospital Workers Fear For Their Families As They Battle Coronavirus With Too Little Armor “We Are…

Laura Ungar Mar 27, 2020

CALIFORNIA - Dr. Jessica Kiss’ twin girls cry most mornings when she goes to work. They’re 9, old enough to know she could catch the coronavirus from her patients and get so sick she could die. Kiss shares that fear, and worries at…

Health

Looking For Answers After COVID-19 Contact? Welcome To “The Gray Zone”

Laura Ungar Mar 14, 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak has spawned confusion among health officials, doctors and the public, especially for people who don’t know whether they have the illness but instead fall into the gray area for testing and deciding whether to…

Health

Congress Approves Boost In Food Aid For Seniors But Funding Falls Short Of Growing Need

Laura Ungar Mar 12, 2020

The legislation reauthorizes the Older Americans Act, which provides for home-delivered and group meals for anyone 60 and older while supporting an array of other services, such as transportation and in-home care. File photo. …

Health

Five Years Later, HIV-Hit Town Rebounds, But Nation Slow To Heed Lessons

Laura Ungar Feb 19, 2020

Ethan Howard is a musician who tested positive for HIV in 2015 as part of an outbreak centered around Austin, Indiana. Photo credit: Luke Sharrett, Kaiser Health News. AUSTIN, IN - Ethan Howard cradled his prized Martin-brand guitar,…

Health

Battling The Bullets From The Operating Room To The Community

Laura Ungar Dec 12, 2019

Dr. Laurie Punch (center), a trauma surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, shows Melissa Woeppel (left) and Stan Schloesser how to apply a tourniquet during a Stop the Bleed class last month in St. Louis. Punch is on a mission to stop the…

Health

Cocaine-Related Deaths Hit Black America Hardest As Death Tolls Rise From Tainted Drug; Ohio Has…

Laura Ungar Nov 25, 2019

Cincinnati resident Gwendolyn Barton, 62, smoked crack cocaine and used other drugs for about 20 years before getting sober in 2008. Photo credit: Meg Vogel For KHN. CINCINNATI — A pain pill prescription for nerve damage revived…

Finance

Grief Grew Into A Mental Health Crisis And A $21,634 Hospital Bill

Laura Ungar Oct 31, 2019

Arline Feilen’s husband died in 2013, followed by her father three years later. After her mom passed away earlier this year, she “crumbled,” she says. Her mental health crisis landed her in the hospital for five nights, yet her health…

Business

The Deep Divide: State Borders Create Medicaid Haves And Have-Nots

Laura Ungar Oct 2, 2019

A few years ago, Patricia Powers briefly thought about moving from her home in St. Louis County, Mo., across the river into Illinois ― for Medicaid. “You ask yourself: Where do you go? What do you do?” After years without health…

Education

Back To School 2019: Backpack, Lunchbox And A Drug Test

Laura Ungar Sep 5, 2019

The latest School Health Policies and Practices Study shows that a declining number of districts require elementary schools to teach drug and alcohol prevention, have arrangements with off-site organizations to provide drug treatment and…

Health

Sobering Up: In An Alcohol-Soaked Nation, More Seek Booze-Free Social Spaces with National Trend of…

Laura Ungar Jul 8, 2019

A national trend of boozeless bars is cropping up nationwide to create social spaces without the hangovers, DUIs and alcoholism culture. It’s part of a new push for sober options. File photo: Pixabay. ST. LOUIS — Not far from the…