Weekly Edition: April 17, 2020

NYC Nurse Says He’s Not Scared: ‘I Am Only Doing My Job’ For COVID-19 Patients

Paula Andalo

Francisco Díaz ordinarily works educating seniors about their diabetes, but he has moved to the emergency room, on the front line in the battle against coronavirus. He said his Latino background helps him communicate with the many Spanish-speaking patients and understand their culture.

California Shies Away From Calls To Eliminate Restrictions On Nurse Practitioners

Rachel Bluth

Many states are dramatically loosening regulations on nurse practitioners as the coronavirus pandemic increases demand for health care workers. But not California.

‘It’s Not Over Until It’s Over’: 5 Things To Know About Hitting The COVID-19 Peak

Phil Galewitz

President Donald Trump says the country has seen a peak in new cases, but that doesn’t mean the end of the pandemic, experts say. Buckle in — we could be social distancing into 2022.

Obama: GOP’s Stance On Preexisting Conditions Off-Base, Especially During Pandemic

Shefali Luthra

The former president's statement highlights a clear difference of opinion that will likely come up often on the campaign trail.

As Ventilators Become Crucial In Saving Lives, Repair Roadblocks Remain

Markian Hawryluk

With hospitals struggling to get more ventilators, they must ensure every ventilator they have is ready for service. But manufacturers limit who can repair them.

Coronavirus Nurses Ask An Ebola Veteran: Is It OK To Be Afraid?

Will Stone

Martha Phillips traveled to Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic in 2014 to serve as a nurse. Now, she's working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, advising her colleagues on how to stay safe.

True Toll Of COVID-19 On U.S. Health Care Workers Unknown

Christina Jewett and Liz Szabo

Infection-report forms rarely indicate who is a health worker or whether they survived. States and hospitals tend to keep quiet, citing patient privacy.

Pediatric Practices Struggle To Adapt And Survive Amid COVID-19

Jenny Gold

Across the U.S., pediatric practices that provide front-line care for the nation’s children are struggling to adjust to crashing revenues, terrified parents and a shortage of protective equipment — and all while being asked to care for young patients who could well be vectors for transmission without showing symptoms.

The COVID-19 Bailout That’s Left Every Hospital Unhappy In Its Own Way

Rachana Pradhan and Lauren Weber

Despite intense lobbying for a piece of the $100 billion bailout pot, big New York hospitals and rural systems alike say they aren’t getting a fair share.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: How Will We Reopen The Economy?

The politics of COVID-19 are pretty polarized, but health experts across the ideological spectrum agree: The U.S. will need more robust testing before it’s safe to relax social-distancing requirements. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, Congress and the nation’s governors continue to spar over who should be responsible for what. Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider, Tami Luhby of CNN and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

COVID-19 Brings Overhaul Of Military Health Care To A Halt

Patricia Kime

The military is called to action to battle the pandemic, even as the numbers of people infected among its ranks and veterans climb amid a shortage of doctors and nurses.

Sanders: In Coronavirus Relief Effort, Congress Fell Short On Paid Sick Leave

Shefali Luthra

Capitol Hill’s guarantee does not pertain to many “essential” workers.

Furor Erupts: Billions Going To Hospitals Based On Medicare Billings, Not COVID-19

Jay Hancock and Phil Galewitz and Elizabeth Lucas

In the first round of emergency relief, some states will get more than $300,000 per COVID-19 patient, while hard-hit New York gets just $12,000 per patient.

Big Brother Wants To Track Your Location And Health Data. And That’s Not All Bad.

Julie Appleby and Victoria Knight

Big data plays a critical role in the success of current public health efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus. Privacy advocates, though, are watching closely.

Massachusetts Recruits 1,000 ‘Contact Tracers’ To Battle COVID-19

Martha Bebinger, WBUR

"I know we will succeed somewhat and we will fail somewhat," says one of the plan's chief architects. "We won't be able to find every single person — but we will hopefully prevent a lot of deaths."

How Do We Exit The Shutdown? Hire An Army Of Public Health Workers

Anna Maria Barry-Jester

The pandemic has exposed massive cracks in the foundations of the U.S. public health system. Getting the country back to normal, experts say, will require a major investment in Public Health 101: training a corps of workers who can track people with the virus and prevent them from passing it to others.

Battling A Pandemic Across 4,750 Square Miles And 10 Million People

Bernard J. Wolfson

Los Angeles County’s health leader describes the struggle for data and resources in the coronavirus fight.

N.Y. Leads The Nation In COVID-19 Tests, But Testing Still Doesn’t Meet Demand

Michelle Andrews

New York City and hospital officials recommend testing only the sickest people and encouraging others to stay home to get well. But other officials say wider tests are needed to ensure that essential workers don’t spread the disease.

A Desperate Scramble As COVID-19 Families Vie For Access To Plasma Therapy

JoNel Aleccia

As efforts ramp up to collect blood plasma from the first survivors of COVID-19, families of critically ill patients are jockeying to obtain the still-unproven antibody treatment.

Analysis: The Real Tragedy Of Not Having Enough COVID-19 Tests

Elisabeth Rosenthal

How can we know when to reopen society without testing many more people?

‘I Wasn’t Eating’: Senior Twin Sisters Battle Pandemic Anxiety Together

Cara Anthony

Twins Edna Mayes and Ethel Sylvester, 92, are relying on each other through the pandemic, in which one of the hidden dangers is to their mental health.

In Shutting Out Threat, Seniors In Continuing Care Communities Feel Shut In

Judith Graham

For older adults in retirement communities ― a population especially vulnerable to COVID-19 — striking a balance between reducing the risk of contracting the coronavirus and maintaining the quality of life is a new frontier.

Jails And Prisons Spring Thousands To Prevent Coronavirus Outbreaks

Mark Kreidler

As wardens across the country grapple with COVID-19 outbreaks, inmates are being released to prevent widespread contagion in overcrowded prisons.

Watch: Coronavirus And Your Health Care

KHN's Julie Rovner answers viewers' questions on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" about how the pandemic is affecting health policy as well as patients and their insurance.

With Federal Nod, Consumers Could Lose The Boost They Get From Drug ‘Coupons’

Michelle Andrews

The proposal being weighed by federal officials would allow employers and insurers to decide that drug companies’ assistance doesn’t count toward their members’ deductible or out-of-pocket maximum spending limits. If plans opted for that approach, only payments made by patients themselves would be included in the calculation toward reaching those limits.

Biden’s Incremental Medicare Play For Bernie’s Backers

Julie Rovner

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate unveils a proposal to lower the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 60.

Readers And Tweeters Stay At Home And Stay In Touch With KHN

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.