Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Grieving Families Want Answers From Nursing Homes, But Immunity Laws Might Mean They Won't Get Them
The Washington Post: Immunity Laws In Many States Shield Nursing Homes From Covid-19 Liability, Leaving Families Without Answers
One afternoon in early April, Brenda Anagnos crouched in the bushes outside a nursing home in Windsor, Conn., and pressed her face to the window. “Mommy,” she yelled. “I’m here.” From outside the locked-down facility, Anagnos said she watched her mother, wearing a red tank top, shiver beneath a hospital sheet. Diagnosed with covid-19, she could barely raise a hand. Anagnos said she called the front desk for a nurse, a blanket, some help with an electrolyte drink. (Cenziper, Whoriskey, Mulcahy and Jacobs, 6/8)
The Hill: Dem Chairmen Urge CMS To Prevent Nursing Homes From Seizing Stimulus Payments
Two House Democratic committee chairmen are urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue guidance aimed at preventing nursing homes and assisted living facilities from seizing their residents' coronavirus relief payments. "It is crucial that this vulnerable population group continues to have the certainty that comes with these [economic impact payments] and are not coerced into wrongly handing over their checks for fear of being kicked out of their homes," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) wrote in a letter Monday to CMS Administrator Seema Verma. (Jagoda, 6/8)
The New York Times: Testing Nursing Home Workers Can Help Stop Coronavirus. But Who Should Pay?
Like all nursing home workers in New York State, Shikilia Davis is required to get a test for coronavirus twice a week, part of a state order aimed at containing the startling death toll of residents in nursing homes. But late last month, Ms. Davis said her employer, Apex Rehabilitation & Healthcare on Long Island, sent her home after she refused to provide her insurance card before getting tested. She said the nursing home wanted to bill her health insurer rather than paying for the test itself, even though Ms. Davis’s insurer has declined to cover the tests. (Thomas, 6/9)
