Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Costs Concerns Mount, Gov. Newsom Pressed To Expand Medi-Cal To Seniors In Country Illegally
KQED: Pandemic's Economic Toll Leaves Plan To Insure California's Undocumented Seniors In Doubt
As California continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, public health experts and immigrant advocates are pushing for Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand Medi-Cal benefits to tens of thousands of undocumented seniors. The elderly are among those most at risk for complications from COVID-19. (Romero, 4/29)
Kaiser Health News: Free Clinics Try To Fill Gaps As COVID Sweeps Away Job-Based Insurance
Joe Delbert hadn’t needed the Tree of Life Free Clinic in three years. The 55-year-old man, who moved to Tupelo from Georgia to take care of his dying father nearly four years ago, found manufacturing work that came with health insurance. But last month, he joined 26 million other Americans who have lost their jobs because of COVID-19 in the past five weeks. (Morris, 4/30)
Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: If Insurer Bills You For COVID Testing, Talk — And Maybe Tweet — It Out
Anna Davis Abel’s insurance company pledged to cover COVID-19 testing without cost sharing, but then left her to pay a big bill. Davis Abel got help thanks to a viral tweet — and from a reporter who reached out to and prodded her insurance company. But her story exposes gaps in the protections Congress put in place to make coronavirus testing more affordable for consumers with health coverage. (Weissmann, 4/30)
Meanwhile, in other insurance news —
Modern Healthcare: Chicago Hospital Sues Illinois Over Medicaid Program
St. Anthony Hospital is suing the state, alleging that problems with Illinois' Medicaid program threaten the hospital's ability to care for patients in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Chicago hospital alleges that the state's $12.5 billion Medicaid managed-care program doesn't comply with federal law and subsequently hurts safety nets that treat large numbers of low-income patients. (Goldberg, 4/29)
