KHN Weekly Edition: November 24, 2021
Why You Can’t Find Cheap At-Home Covid Tests
By Rachana Pradhan and Hannah Norman
You probably won’t be testing everyone at your Thanksgiving table for covid because the tests are expensive and hard to find. Why? The federal government is partly to blame.
Success of Covid Antiviral Pills Hinges on Access to Speedy and Accurate Tests
By JoNel Aleccia
The promising antiviral drugs to treat covid can halt hospitalizations and deaths, but only if they’re given to patients within three to five days of their first symptoms, a narrow window many people won’t meet. Here’s why.
Etching the Pain of Covid Into the Flesh of Survivors
By Heidi de Marco
Memorial tattoos have grown more popular in recent years. Since parlors reopened after the lockdown, inkers have found that many people are eager to memorialize relatives and friends lost to covid.
Lifting DC’s Strict Indoor Mask Mandate Triggers Mix of Confusion, Anxiety and Relief
By Amanda Michelle Gomez
Some business owners, wondering whether it’s too soon to ease the requirement, long for more guidance and support from the mayor.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott Off Base in Claim That Rise in Medicare Premiums Is Due to Inflation
By Phil Galewitz
The Republican senator says President Joe Biden’s “inflation crisis” caused Medicare to raise monthly premiums, which will add hundreds of dollars to beneficiaries’ costs. But Medicare experts say inflation was not to blame and most beneficiaries will shoulder a much smaller increase than what Rick Scott claims.
Becerra Says Surprise Billing Rules Force Doctors Who Overcharge to Accept Fair Prices
By Michael McAuliff
The Health and Human Services secretary says the administration has heard complaints from doctors and hospitals about the rules it unveiled for implementing the law to end surprise medical bills. But he says providers who have exploited a complicated system to charge exorbitant rates will have to bear their share of the cost — or close.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: The Insurance Warrior’s Battle Plan
By Dan Weissmann
Health care — and how much it costs — is scary. But knowledge is power. Take a master class in winning insurance appeals. In the case of Matthew Lientz, taking on his insurance also meant going up against his employer.
It Takes a Team: A Doctor With Terminal Cancer Relies on a Close-Knit Group in Her Final Days
By Judith Graham
Dr. Susan Massad created a “health team” after learning she had metastatic breast cancer. These friends and family members help her make difficult decisions and lead the most fulfilling life possible.
When the Eye on Older Patients Is a Camera
By Sofie Kodner
High-tech tools ease caregivers’ stress but can raise sticky privacy questions and concerns about cost.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Big Biden Budget Bill Passes the House
President Joe Biden’s social spending budget is on its way to the U.S. Senate, where Democratic leaders are (optimistically) hoping to complete work by the end of the year. Meanwhile, covid is surging again in parts of the country, along with the political divides it continues to cause. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner previews next week’s Supreme Court abortion oral arguments with Florida State University law professor Mary Ziegler.
Journalists Cover Issues From Pollution to Vaccines and the Spread of Covid in Hospitals
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.