KHN Weekly Edition 062521

Thousands of Young Children Lost Parents to Covid. Where’s Help for Them?
By JoNel Aleccia More than 46,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent to covid-19. Families say finding even basic grief counseling has been difficult and there’s been no coordinated effort to help these children access services or benefits.

A Break From Breathlessness: How Singing Helped Me Through Long Covid
By Lydia Zuraw Long before covid, music therapists used singing and wind instruments to help COPD and asthma patients. These same therapies might help patients recover from covid’s lingering symptoms as well. And though it wasn’t clinical music therapy, singing with an online choir has helped me navigate long covid.

Montana Tribe Welcomes Back Tourists After Risky Shutdown Pays Off
By Aaron Bolton, MTPR When the Blackfeet tribe shut down the roads leading to the eastern side of Glacier National Park, businesses worried for their future. But it worked, and with one of the nation’s highest covid vaccination rates, the reservation has reopened to visitors.

The WHO Didn’t Reverse Its Position on Kids and Covid Vaccines
By Victoria Knight The World Health Organization this week updated its guidance on children and covid vaccinations — but in a different way than alleged in a viral social media post.

Is Rand Paul Mixing Up the Vaccine Message for Covid Survivors?
By Victoria Knight The scientific literature shows that natural immunity does provide protection against covid-19, but experts say getting vaccinated can provide additional protection against variants.

What It Means When Celebrities Stay Coy About Their Vaccine Status
By Eric Berger St. Louis Blues leading scorer David Perron took 10 days to explain he had indeed been vaccinated before he caught covid-19, which knocked him from playing in the NHL playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche. His case and those of other public figures raise questions about the role of celebrity in enticing people to get covid vaccinations.

Journalists Follow Up on Unused Vaccines and For-Profit Medical Schools
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

‘It’s a Mission’: Volunteers Treat Refugees Massing at the Border
By Heidi de Marco A growing number of Mexican and Central American migrants are trying to cross into the U.S. at the southern border. Volunteers at one free clinic in Tijuana tend to the health needs of migrants waiting for their immigration cases to come up — and simply trying to survive in packed and dangerous encampments.

Nurses and Docs at Long Beach Center ‘Consider It an Honor’ to Care for Migrant Children
By Stephanie Stephens Health care workers find it easy to empathize with Central American children after their painful journeys to the U.S.

At Texas Border, Pandemic’s High Toll Lays Bare Gaps in Health and Insurance
By René Kladzyk, El Paso Matters and Phil Galewitz and Elizabeth Lucas In Texas’ border communities, which are overwhelmingly Hispanic, covid-19 death rates for people under age 65 were double those in the rest of the state and three times the national average. They were also significantly higher than rates in New Mexico border areas.

Biden Quietly Transforms Medicaid Safety Net
By Noam N. Levey and Phil Galewitz In a sharp shift from Trump-era policies, President Joe Biden looks at expanding Medicaid eligibility to new mothers, inmates and undocumented immigrants and adding services such as food and housing.

No Vacancy: How a Shortage of Mental Health Beds Keeps Kids Trapped Inside ERs
By Martha Bebinger, WBUR What's known as emergency room boarding of psychiatric patients has risen between 200% and 400% monthly in Massachusetts during the pandemic — and the problem is widespread. The CDC says emergency room visits after suicide attempts among teen girls were up 51% earlier this year as compared with 2019.

Hospitals, Insurers Invest Big Dollars to Tackle Patients’ Social Needs
By Phil Galewitz Eager to control costs, health systems and insurers are trying to address patients’ social needs such as food insecurity, transportation and housing. Yet, after years of testing, there’s slim evidence these efforts pay off.

Hemmed In at Home, Nonprofit Hospitals Look for Profits Abroad
By Jordan Rau About three dozen elite health systems are involved in for-profit hospital projects overseas. Though the systems are exempt from U.S. taxes for providing “community benefit,” there’s limited evidence that such business ventures benefit American patients.

Black and Hispanic Americans Suffer Most in Biggest US Decline in Life Expectancy Since WWII
By Liz Szabo The pandemic will undermine Americans' health for years. Even those not infected by the coronavirus could suffer health problems related to poverty, job loss, eviction — or all of the above.

Calming Computer Jitters: Help for Seniors Who Aren’t Tech-Savvy
By Judith Graham Millions of older adults want to be comfortable going online and using digital tools to enhance their lives. But many need help. A number of groups around the country offer assistance.

In a Murky Sea of Mental Health Apps, Consumers Left Adrift
By Jenny Gold Venture capitalists have poured billions into the digital mental health space, sensing an area of unmet demand that is ripe for disruption. The problem for consumers is separating the apps that might help from those that offer little more than distraction — or could actually do harm.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: How to Expand Health Coverage
Democrats in Congress and the states are devising strategies to expand health coverage — through the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid and a “public option.” But progress remains halting, at best. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington may have to agree on how to control prescription drug prices if they wish to finance their coverage initiatives. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews Michelle Andrews, who reported and wrote last month’s KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a very expensive sleep study.