KHN Weekly Edition: April 8, 2022
ACA Sign-Ups for Low-Income People Roll Out Amid Brokers’ Concerns About Losing Their Cut
Julie Appleby
The Biden administration unveiled a new special enrollment option aimed at signing up low-income Americans for Affordable Care Act coverage — even if it is outside of the usual annual open enrollment period. But insurers are cutting broker commissions at the same time.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Finally, a Fix for the ‘Family Glitch’
President Joe Biden welcomed former President Barack Obama back to the White House this week to announce a new policy for the Affordable Care Act that would make subsidies available to more families with unaffordable employer coverage. Meanwhile, Congress struggled to find a compromise for continued federal funding of covid-19 vaccines, testing, and treatments. Tami Luhby of CNN, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
A Shortfall of ECMO Treatment Cost Lives During the Delta Surge
Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio
About 50% of the covid-19 patients who got the last-ditch life support treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center died. Researchers wanted to know what happened to the many patients they had to turn away because ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machines and the specialized staffers needed were in short supply. The grim answer: 90% of those turned away perished.
New Laws Let Visitors See Loved Ones in Health Care Facilities, Even in an Outbreak
Stephanie Colombini, WUSF
To contain the spread of covid, hospitals and nursing homes barred visits. The separation and isolation took a toll on patients and families. Florida is one of the latest states to ensure access for visitors.
The Pandemic Exacerbates the ‘Paramedic Paradox’ in Rural America
Katheryn Houghton
Emergency medical services are a lifeline in regions with scarce medical care. But paramedics, trained to respond to patients with life-threatening injuries, are in short supply where they’re needed most.
Losing Sleep Over the Pandemic? Work Flexibility May Be a Boon for Night Owls’ Health
Krishna Sharma
Many sleep scientists maintain that people who prefer to stay up late could improve their mental and physical health by synchronizing their natural sleep cycles with workday demands. The flexible work schedules that came with covid’s work-from-home trend, according to one new study, backs up this idea.
The End of the Covid Emergency Could Mean a Huge Loss of Health Insurance
Elisabeth Rosenthal
It is a perilous time to throw low- and middle-income Americans off the insurance cliff: A new omicron subvariant is spreading, and a program that provided coronavirus testing and covid-19 treatment at no cost to the uninsured has expired.
Travel in the Time of Covid: Getting There Is Easy — It’s Getting Home That’s Hard
Damon Darlin
The part of my London visit that I didn’t plan was testing positive for the coronavirus. I couldn’t get back to the U.S., but the U.K. didn’t care what I did or where I went.
Why Nurses Are Raging and Quitting After the RaDonda Vaught Verdict
Brett Kelman and Hannah Norman
The former Tennessee nurse faces prison time for a fatal error. Reaction from her peers was swift and fierce on social media and beyond ― and it isn’t over.
Tech Glitches at One VA Site Raise Concerns About a Nationwide Rollout
Darius Tahir
The more than $16 billion, decade-long effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs was designed to provide seamless electronic health records for patients from enlistment in the military past discharge.
Insulin Copay Cap Passes House Hurdle, But Senate Looks for a Broader Bill
Michael McAuliff
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) are seeking to craft a compromise that members from both parties could accept. Their plan, still being ironed out, would not guarantee a specific limit on out-of-pocket costs but seeks to roll back insulin prices by barring rebate payments to pharmacy benefit managers.
Never-Ending Costs: When Resolved Medical Bills Keep Popping Up
Aneri Pattani
A bill one family considered paid wrongfully resurfaced, resurrecting painful memories. It’s a scenario that’s not uncommon but grievously unsettling.
Doctors Trying to Prescribe Abortion Pills Across State Lines Stymied by Legislation
Rachel Bluth
Some doctors are getting licensed in multiple states so they can use telemedicine and mail-order pharmacies to provide medication abortions to more women. At the same time, states are cracking down on telemedicine abortions, blunting the efforts of out-of-state doctors.
Patients’ Perilous Months-Long Waiting for Medicaid Coverage Is a Sign of What’s to Come
Bram Sable-Smith and Rachana Pradhan
The pandemic crisis has overwhelmed understaffed state Medicaid agencies, already delaying access to the insurance program in Missouri. As the public health emergency ends, low-income people nationwide could find it even harder to have coverage.
California Handed Its Medicaid Drug Program to One Company. Then Came a Corporate Takeover.
Samantha Young
The company awarded the state’s Medi-Cal Rx contract was taken over by another company, Centene. That left the state with a contractor it didn’t pick — one that has been accused of overbilling nine other state Medicaid programs and is now under investigation by California.
Record Fines Might Mean California Is Finally Serious About Improving Medi-Cal
Bernard J. Wolfson
California regulators issued record fines against L.A. Care, the state’s largest Medi-Cal managed-care plan, for providing inadequate care to its enrollees. But whether the penalties are a sign that the state will make a more forceful effort to improve Medi-Cal’s overall quality of care remains to be seen.
$11M for North Carolina Work-Based Rehab Raises Concerns
Aneri Pattani and Taylor Knopf, NC Health News
As overdoses surge and opioid settlement dollars flow, funding to North Carolina rehab foreshadows national discussion about the best approaches to treatment.
Why Black and Hispanic Seniors Are Left With a Less Powerful Flu Vaccine
Arthur Allen
Federal health officials haven’t taken a clear position on whether a high-dose influenza vaccine — on the market since 2010 — is the best choice for people 65 and older. Many in that group already opt for the costlier enhanced shot. Those who get the standard vaccine are disproportionately members of ethnic and racial minorities.
Journalists Discuss How Legislation Affects Mental Health Care and Abortion Training
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.