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Covid Cases Plummet 83% Among Nursing Home Staffers Despite Vaccine Hesitancy
By Melissa Bailey and Shoshana Dubnow Federal records show a steep decline in staff covid cases since December, when health care workers at thousands of nursing homes began getting their shots. Still, many are reluctant to get vaccinated.

Texas Winter Storm Exposes Gaps in Senior Living Oversight
By Sandy West As the recent winter storm disaster in Texas showed, many long-term care sites aren’t required to have backup power supplies or other redundancies to keep residents safe when disaster strikes.

Behind The Byline: Reporting Road Trip
By Aneri Pattani Check out KHN’s video series — Behind The Byline: How the Story Got Made. Come along as journalists and producers offer an insider’s view of health care coverage that does not quit.

Journalists Weigh In on Biden’s HHS Pick
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.

Connecticut Is Doling Out Vaccines Based Strictly on Age. It’s Simpler, but Is it Fair?
By Phil Galewitz and Carmen Heredia Rodriguez On Monday, Connecticut will be the first state to begin vaccinating anyone from age 55 to 64 — instead of people with chronic health issues and essential workers.

Sorting Out How Politics, Policies Figure in Flap Over New York Nursing Home Covid Death Rates
By Michelle Andrews The debate begins with the covid death tallies. But the issues go beyond basic numbers.

Reopening of Long-Term Care Facilities Is ‘an Absolute Necessity for Our Well-Being’
By Judith Graham Relatives and advocates are calling for federal authorities to relax restrictions in long-term care institutions and grant special status to “essential caregivers” — family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care — so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.

Por el bienestar de los abuelos, buscan reabrir hogares de adultos mayores
By Judith Graham Ahora es el momento de aliviar a los residentes del abrumador y brutal aislamiento, dice un grupo cada vez más grande de expertos, cuidadores, consumidores y médicos.

Democrats Gave Americans a Big Boost Buying Health Insurance. It Didn’t Come Cheap.
By Noam N. Levey The $1.9 trillion covid relief bill expands subsidies for private insurance plans. That will lighten the burden on consumers, but it locks taxpayers into yet more support for the health care industry.

Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill
By Susan Jaffe A Trump administration Medicare rule will push some hospital patients into a Catch-22: The government says several hundred procedures no longer need to be done in a hospital, but it did not approve them to be performed elsewhere. So patients will still need to use a hospital while not officially admitted — and may be charged more out-of-pocket for the care.

Democrats Eye Medicare Negotiations to Lower Drug Prices
By Emmarie Huetteman Progressive and conservative Democratic lawmakers, as well as President Joe Biden, are in favor of authorizing federal officials to negotiate with drugmakers over what Medicare pays for at least some of the most expensive brand-name drugs and to base those prices on the drugs’ clinical benefits. Such a measure could put Republicans in the uncomfortable position of opposing an idea that most voters from both parties generally support.