KHN Weekly Edition: Dec. 9, 2022
To Attract In-Home Caregivers, California Offers Paid Training — And Self-Care
Laurie Udesky
Turnover ails a program that allows low-income people who are older or disabled to age in place. To attract new workers and improve retention, the state is paying caregivers to develop new skills.
Hospital Financial Decisions Play a Role in the Critical Shortage of Pediatric Beds for RSV Patients
Liz Szabo
Yes, the U.S. is experiencing an unusual spate of childhood RSV infections. But the critical shortage of hospital beds to treat ailing children stems from structural problems in pediatric care that have been brewing for years.
Colorado Option’s Big Test: Open Enrollment
Markian Hawryluk
Critics were ready to bury the state’s new health insurance plans, based on a public option, when 2023 rate hikes were announced, but officials are confident people will be drawn to the plans’ benefits.
Journalists Discuss Medicaid Rules, Opioid Settlement Funds, and the Public Health Workforce
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.
Much of the CDC Is Working Remotely. That Could Make Changing the Agency Difficult.
Sam Whitehead
Like many U.S. workplaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went remote during the pandemic. Most of the agency’s staff members haven’t returned to the office full time, raising concerns about the CDC’s ability to reform itself after recent stumbles.
Assisted Living Facilities Pressed to Address Growing Needs of Older, Sicker Residents
Judith Graham
Assisted living was meant to be a home-like setting where older adults could interact with other residents while receiving help with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing. But as the concept has become more popular, residents are now older and sicker than in the past, and a panel of experts is calling for more focus on their medical and mental health needs.
Florida Leaders Misrepresented Research Before Ban on Gender-Affirming Care
Yacob Reyes, PolitiFact
The Florida policy backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis relies on one key statistic that many experts question.
Employers Use Patient Assistance Programs to Offset Their Own Costs
Julie Appleby
Some insurers and employers are tapping into assistance programs meant for individual patients. The concern: Some costly drugs could be harder for patients to access.
More States to Consider Extending Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Beyond Two Months
Matt Volz
Fifteen states haven’t moved to extend Medicaid coverage for new moms beyond the minimum of 60 days after birth. But at least four of those holdout states — Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi — are expected to consider proposals to extend coverage in their upcoming legislative sessions.
Paxlovid Has Been Free So Far. Next Year, Sticker Shock Awaits.
Hannah Recht
The government soon will stop paying for the covid drug that has proved to be the most effective at keeping patients alive and out of the hospital.
Watch: Big Medicaid Changes in California Leave Millions of Patients Behind
KHN senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses how California’s big Medicaid experiment to bring social services to the sickest and costliest patients doesn’t help most patients.
A Family Death During the Holidays Prompts Questions and Reflection
Judith Graham
The death of a sharp but frail patriarch just days before Thanksgiving casts a shadow on a family’s holiday season.
For Patients With Sickle Cell Disease, Fertility Care Is About Reproductive Justice
Farah Yousry, Side Effects Public Media
The disease, which predominantly affects Black patients, can damage the body in ways that can make having a child difficult. But patients don’t always have access to fertility care.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: He Made a Video About Health Insurance Terminology That Went Viral
Dan Weissmann
A video producer’s quest for health coverage led him to create a video about insurance terminology. That video now has over a million views. Here’s how he did it.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Congress Races the Clock
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s re-election in Georgia will give Democrats a clear-cut Senate majority for the first time in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, the current Congress has only days left to tackle major unfinished business on the health agenda, including fending off scheduled pay cuts for doctors and other health providers in the Medicare program. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.