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Every Friday, we’re recapping the latest on the coronavirus from our tracking, policy analysis, polling, and journalism. Total cases in the U.S. are still climbing, and surpassed 1.2 million this week. Approximately 76,000 have died in the U.S. from COVID-19. Meanwhile, since last Thursday, actions to ease social distancing requirements went into effect in 28 states and 14 states extended social distancing measures.

Millions of people are losing jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic and seeking financial assistance through Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. While UI can provide an important source of temporary assistance for many people losing jobs, there have been reports of major challenges accessing UI benefits. Over time, states have significantly streamlined Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) application and enrollment processes to overcome many similar challenges to connect eligible people to health insurance coverage. As such, previous experience enrolling individuals into Medicaid and CHIP can provide lessons learned that could help inform efforts to connect people to UI. This brief summarizes some key lessons learned and discusses how states could potentially apply these lessons to UI.

States are making varied gains in testing their populations for coronavirus. In this Chart of the Week, see how the number of tests with results has changed across states’ populations since April 28, 2020.

This issue brief presents data from the 2019 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey on the share of covered workers who are employed by firms that have asked their insurer or third party administrator to exclude coverage for abortion from their health plan.

Among non-elderly adults, American Indian/Alaska Native and Black adults are more likely than Whites to be at higher risk of serious illness if infected with the new coronavirus — chiefly due to a higher prevalence of underlying health conditions and longstanding disparities in health care and other socio-economic factors, according…

At-home SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests may be a promising avenue to get more people tested in a timely manner. Lessons from at-home sexually transmitted tests can offer important less about limitations related to specimen collection, public health surveillance, and coverage and access.

This brief analyzes the changes to telehealth regulation and implementation made by the federal government, state governments and health systems in response to the COVID-19 emergency. We outline key changes to telemedicine coverage, for Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.

How many adults in the United States are at a higher risk of serious illness if they are infected with coronavirus and who are they? This two minute video illustrates these highest-risk populations.