aging + medicare 112320
These Front-Line Workers Could Have Retired. They Risked Their Lives Instead.
By Shoshana Dubnow
An investigation by KHN and The Guardian shows that 329 health care workers age 65 or older have reportedly died of COVID-19.
A $200 Debit Card Won’t Do Much for Seniors’ Drug Costs
By Harris Meyer
President Donald Trump wants to send seniors $200 apiece. Beyond the legal and logistical problems, health care experts point out it does little to help someone with even typical prescription costs.
Patients Struggle to Find Prescription Opioids After NY Tax Drives Out Suppliers
By Anastassia Gliadkovskaya
The tax was touted as a way to generate funding for treatment programs across the state. But to avoid paying, scores of manufacturers and wholesalers stopped selling opioids in New York.
Medicare Fines Half of Hospitals for Readmitting Too Many Patients
By Jordan Rau
The penalties are the ninth round of a program created as part of the Affordable Care Act’s broader effort to improve quality and lower costs. The average reduction in federal payments is 0.69%, with 613 hospitals receiving a penalty of 1% or more.
Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized by Medicare?
By Jordan Rau
Each year, Medicare punishes hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and high rates of infections and patient injuries. Check out which hospitals have been penalized.
It’s Open Enrollment. Here’s What You Need to Know
By Bernard J. Wolfson
For Californians who are buying their own insurance, enrollment in 2021 health plans runs through Jan. 31.
Justices Bound to See ACA as ‘Indispensable,’ Says Californian Leading Defense
By Samantha Young
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a case that could overturn the Affordable Care Act. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is defending the law with the backing of more than 20 other states, told California Healthline that he predicts the justices will uphold it.
Fiscal general de California: los jueces deben ver que ACA es “indispensable”
By Samantha Young
Respaldado por más de 20 estados, Xavier Becerra defiende la ley contra el desafío presentado hace dos años por una coalición de funcionarios estatales republicanos.
Biden Plan to Lower Medicare Eligibility Age to 60 Faces Hostility From Hospitals
By Phil Galewitz
Hospitals, a potent political force, fear lowering the eligibility age will cost them billions of dollars in revenue because federal reimbursements are lower than private insurers’.
Biden Wins, but His Health Agenda Dims With GOP Likely to Hold Senate
By Julie Rovner
Democrats had hoped not only to defeat President Donald Trump but also to capture the Senate so they could make major policy changes, such as bolstering the Affordable Care Act and reducing the number of uninsured.
Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVID’s Next Round
By Judith Graham
As the coronavirus surges around the country, workers in nursing homes and assisted living centers are watching cases rise in long-term care facilities with a sense of dread. Many of these workers struggle with grief over the suffering they’ve witnessed.
Prayers and Grief Counseling After COVID: Trying to Aid Healing in Long-Term Care
By Judith Graham
With employees emotionally drained and residents suffering from loss, many nursing homes and assisted living centers are working with chaplains, social workers and mental health professionals to help people deal with the effects of the coronavirus.
Nursing Homes Still See Dangerously Long Waits for COVID Test Results
By Jordan Rau and Lauren Weber and Rachana Pradhan
The Trump administration hailed rapid tests as the way to halt COVID’s spread in nursing homes. A KHN analysis of federal data shows they’re not being used, as questions linger about accuracy and best practices.
Facebook Live: Helping COVID’s Secondary Victims: Grieving Families and Friends
More than 246,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by the coronavirus, leaving hundreds of thousands of others grieving. Judith Graham, author of KHN’s Navigating Aging column, hosted a discussion on these unprecedented losses and dealing with bereavement. She was joined by Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and Diane Snyder-Cowan, leader of the bereavement professionals steering committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals.
‘Is This Worth My Life?’: Traveling Health Workers Decry COVID Care Conditions
By Eli Cahan
Frequently employed by staffing agencies based in other states, nurses and other healthcare professionals can find themselves working through crisis without advocates or adequate safety equipment.
Seniors Form COVID Pods to Ward Off Isolation This Winter
By Judith Graham
Older adults are deliberating what to do as days and nights turn chilly and coronavirus cases rise across the country. Some are forming “bubbles” with small groups of friends who agree on pandemic precautions and will see one another in person. Others are planning to go it alone.
They Work in Several Nursing Homes to Eke Out a Living, Possibly Spreading the Virus
By Jackie Fortiér, LAist
An analysis of location data from 30 million smartphones found that facilities across the country that share the most workers also had the most COVID-19 infections. The "Kevin Bacon of nursing homes" in each state — the one with the most staffers working at other nursing homes — was likely to have the worst outbreaks of coronavirus contagion.
Despite COVID Concerns, Teams Venture Into Nursing Homes to Get Out the Vote
By Aneri Pattani
In North Carolina, staffs at nursing homes and assisted living facilities are prohibited by law from helping residents vote. So community members fill the gap, venturing into some of the places hit hardest by the coronavirus.
Why State Mask Stockpiling Orders Are Hurting Nursing Homes, Small Providers
By Lauren Weber
More than eight months into the pandemic, stockpiling of masks and other protective equipment by wealthy hospital systems is straining nursing homes and smaller providers who also need precious protective gear to keep front-line workers safe from COVID-19.