KHN Weekly Edition: Aug. 26, 2022

The $18,000 Breast Biopsy: When Having Insurance Costs You a Bundle
By Lauren Sausser An online calculator told a young woman that a procedure to rule out cancer would cost an uninsured person about $1,400. Instead, the hospital initially charged almost $18,000 and, with her high-deductible health insurance, she owed more than $5,000.

Unraveling the Interplay of Omicron, Reinfections, and Long Covid
By Liz Szabo The omicron variant has proved adept at finding hosts, often by reinfecting people who recovered from earlier bouts of covid. But whether omicron triggers long covid as often and severe as previous variants is a matter of heated study.

Wastewater Surveillance Has Become a Critical Covid Tracking Tool, but Funding Is Inconsistent
By Lauren Sausser Dashboards that rely on positive covid test results reported to local health departments no longer paint a reliable picture of how covid is spreading in an area. Some experts say wastewater surveillance is the most accurate way to measure viral activity. Meanwhile, some wastewater labs face funding shortfalls.

Grassroots Work Leads to Vaccination Success in Georgia Refugee Community
By Alander Rocha Public health officials and resettlement groups across the U.S. have used community organizers to encourage newly arrived refugees and other vulnerable people to get vaccinated against covid-19. In a Georgia city that is home to many refugees, the vaccination rate is higher than in the state, county, and surrounding communities of similar socioeconomic status.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Future of Public Health, 2022 Edition
A new report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a National Public Health System calls for a major overhaul of the way the U.S. organizes, funds, and communicates about public health, particularly in the harsh spotlight of the covid-19 pandemic. In this special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” host Julie Rovner and KHN’s correspondent Lauren Weber interview the commission’s chair, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, about how to fix what ails public health.

Timely Mental Health Care Is a Key Factor in Strike by Kaiser Permanente Workers
By Bernard J. Wolfson and Zinnia Finn A new California law requires timely follow-up appointments for mental health and addiction patients. But striking workers at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California say patients continue to wait up to two months.

Hospitals Cut Jobs and Services as Rising Costs Strain Budgets
By Katheryn Houghton More than two years into the pandemic, hospital budgets are beginning to crack. One of the biggest drivers of financial shortfalls has been the cost to find workers.

Congressman’s Wife Died After Taking Herbal Remedy Marketed for Diabetes and Weight Loss
By Samantha Young Lori McClintock, the wife of U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock of California, died after ingesting white mulberry leaf, according to the Sacramento County coroner. The plant is generally considered safe and is used in herbal remedies that claim to lower blood sugar, boost weight loss, and combat high cholesterol. Her death highlights the potential dangers of dietary supplements.

California Wants to Snip Costs for Vasectomies
By Rachel Bluth Vasectomies can cost hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket — or more. State lawmakers are debating whether to make the procedure free to millions of men.

Policies to Roll Back Abortion Rights Will Hit Incarcerated People Particularly Hard
By Carly Graf People in jails and prisons are particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.

A Needle Exchange Project Modeled on Urban Efforts Aims to Save Lives in Rural Nevada
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez Five years after HIV tore through a rural Indiana town as a result of widespread drug use, a syringe and needle exchange program was set up in rural Nevada to prevent a similar event.

‘American Diagnosis’: As Climate Crises Batter the Bayou, Houma People Are Being Displaced
Rising sea levels and severe hurricanes are displacing Indigenous people in Southern Louisiana and harming health. Episode 11 explores the United Houma Nation’s push for federal tribal recognition and the climate-change help that could come with it.

Rural Americans Have Difficulty Accessing a Promising Cancer Treatment
By Debby Waldman Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy has eliminated tumors in some late-stage cancer patients, but the cost and complexity of care mean rural Americans have trouble accessing the treatment.

With More Sizzling Summers, Colorado Changes How Heat Advisories Are Issued
By Markian Hawryluk The National Weather Service is now gauging heat risk in a way that better suits Colorado as summers in the Centennial State get hotter and longer.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: How to Negotiate for Lower Medical Bills
By Dan Weissmann A nonprofit that trains people to apply for charity care has started teaching others how to negotiate with hospitals and debt collectors to lower the amount they owe.

From Book Stacks to Psychosis and Food Stamps, Librarians Confront a New Workplace
By Rachel Scheier As public libraries morph into support hubs for homeless people with mental illness or addiction, librarians are struggling to reconcile their shifting roles.

Watch: Crashing Into Surprise Ambulance Bills
Three siblings were in the same car wreck, but their ambulance bills were very different.

Journalists Dig Into Questions About the 988 Hotline and Inflation Reduction Act
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.