Weekly Edition: December 4, 2020
Think Your Health Care Is Covered? Beware of the ‘Junk’ Insurance Plan
Michelle Andrews
Millions of people are looking for coverage on the federal and state marketplaces right now. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a comprehensive plan and a “junk” plan with limited benefits and coverage restrictions.
During ACA Open Enrollment, Picking a Plan Invites New COVID Complications
Julie Appleby
COVID-19’s “long haulers” — patients with lingering effects of the disease — have joined the ranks of Americans with preexisting conditions. For those shopping for health coverage on the individual market, here’s help navigating an uncharted insurance landscape.
After a Deadly COVID Outbreak, Maryland County Takes Steps to Protect Health Workers
Laura Ungar
Prince George’s County in Maryland is taking action after a coronavirus outbreak left veteran public health worker Chantee Mack dead and several colleagues with lasting medical problems. But some staffers say more still needs to be done to keep public health workers on the front lines of the COVID fight safe.
OSHA Let Employers Decide Whether to Report Health Care Worker Deaths. Many Didn’t.
Aneri Pattani and Robert Lewis and Christina Jewett
Four workers died at a facility with one of the largest U.S. outbreaks, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration never conducted an inspection. It’s a pattern that’s played out across the nation, a KHN investigation finds.
Lost on the Frontline: Explore the Database
The Staffs of KFF Health News and The Guardian
As of Wednesday, the KHN-Guardian project counted 3,607 U.S. health worker deaths in the first year of the pandemic. Today we add 39 profiles, including a hospice chaplain, a nurse who spoke to intubated patients "like they were listening," and a home health aide who couldn't afford to stop working. This is the most comprehensive count in the nation as of April 2021, and our interactive database investigates the question: Did they have to die?
What Happened When the Only ER Doctor in a Rural Town Got COVID
John Daley, Colorado Public Radio
Hospitals across the country are struggling as staffers get infected with the coronavirus. It's especially tough for small, rural hospitals, where even one doctor out sick can upend patient capacity.
As Hospitals Fill With COVID Patients, Medical Reinforcements Are Hard to Find
Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio and Carrie Feibel, NPR
More than 93,000 COVID patients are hospitalized across the country. But beds and space aren't the main concern for hospital administrators — It's the health care workforce.
NYC Hospital Workers, Knowing How Bad It Can Get, Brace for COVID 2nd Wave
Fred Mogul, WNYC
Hospitals are in better shape now than in the spring, with more knowledge of how to handle COVID-19 and bigger stockpiles of protective equipment. Still, nurses worry about staffing shortages and unfilled jobs.
Thousands of Doctors’ Offices Buckle Under Financial Stress of COVID
Laura Ungar
Across the nation, primary care practices that were already struggling are closing, victims of the pandemic’s financial fallout. And this is reducing access to health care, especially in rural and other regions already short on doctors.
How COVID-19 Highlights the Uncertainty of Medical Testing
Ishani Ganguli
Widespread COVID testing has revealed uncomfortable truths about medical tests: A test result is rarely a definitive answer, but instead a single clue. A result may be falsely positive or negative, or it may show an abnormality that doesn’t matter. And as COVID testing has made too clear, even an accurate, meaningful result is useless unless it’s acted on appropriately.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: How to Avoid a Big Bill for Your COVID Test
Dan Weissmann
Tests for the coronavirus are supposed to be free. And, usually, they are. But sometimes … things happen. Here’s how to avoid getting a surprise bill for a test.
How Pharma Money Colors Operation Warp Speed’s Quest to Defeat COVID
Rachana Pradhan
A Trump administration maneuver allows executives who are leading the federal effort to keep investments in drug companies that would benefit from the pandemic response.
Come for Your Eye Exam, Leave With a Band-Aid on Your Arm
Rachel Bluth
Dentists and optometrists across the country are trying to join in the fight to get everyone vaccinated against COVID-19, the flu and other diseases.
Feds Look to Pharmacists to Boost Childhood Immunization Rates
Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
Fears over COVID-19 have contributed to a slump in inoculations among children. Now the federal government is looking to pharmacists for help, but many of them do not participate in a program that offers free shots to half the kids in the U.S.
Last Call for COVID: To Avoid Bar Shutdowns, States Serve Up Curfews
Jordan Rau
Authorities are ordering early closures — generally around 10 p.m. — to curb the spread of COVID-19. But will the coronavirus observe this curfew?
As LA County Sets New Infection Record, State Leaders’ Behavior Sends Mixed Messages
Jackie Fortiér, LAist
Even as L.A.’s stay-at-home restrictions began, leaders across California took heat for their do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do pandemic behavior.
Where COVID Is on the Menu: Failed Contact Tracing Leaves Diners in the Dark
Anna Almendrala
State and local public health officials are sure that bars and restaurants are spreading COVID. But they don’t always have much concrete evidence to support their convictions.
Amid COVID and Racial Unrest, Black Churches Put Faith in Mental Health Care
Aneri Pattani
Black Americans are less likely to receive mental health treatment than the overall population. But as needs soar this year, faith leaders are tapping health professionals to share coping skills churchgoers and the community can use immediately.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Who Will Run the Biden Health Effort?
The official transition to a Joe Biden administration has finally begun, and he is expected to announce his health care team soon, including a new secretary of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens in the U.S., officials are preparing for the effort to get Americans vaccinated as soon as vaccines are approved by the FDA. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Julie Appleby, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment.
KHN on the Air This Week
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.