Weekly Edition: February 21, 2020
Ink Rx? Welcome To The Camouflaged World Of Paramedical Tattoos
By Cara Anthony
Doctors specialize in the science of healing, but tattoo artist Eric Catalano specializes in the art of it. The single father of three does up to eight reconstructive medical tattoos for free each “Wellness Wednesday” in his small Illinois shop, drawing in nails on finger amputees, mocking up belly buttons after tummy tucks and fleshing out lips on a woman mauled by a dog.
Five Years Later, HIV-Hit Town Rebounds. But The Nation Is Slow To Heed Lessons.
By Laura Ungar
In February 2015, an unprecedented HIV outbreak fueled by intravenous drug use hit the small city of Austin, Indiana. Under pressure, then-Gov. Mike Pence reluctantly allowed a syringe exchange. Five years later, HIV is undetectable in most of the outbreak patients. Still, the lessons haven’t been learned nationwide. Fewer than a third of the 220 counties deemed by the federal government as vulnerable to similar outbreaks have active syringe-exchange programs.
Newsom: To Fix Homelessness, California Must Fix Mental Health
By Rachel Bluth
California Gov. Gavin Newsom dedicated nearly all of his State of the State address Wednesday to homelessness. To fix that problem, he said, the state must address another one: mental health care.
In Tornado Alley, Storms Are Even More Dangerous For People With Disabilities
By Jackie Fortiér, StateImpact Oklahoma
As climate change bears down, a haphazard web of weather safeguards is a particular blow to the disabled. In Oklahoma, no state laws require homeowners or landlords to install storm shelters. If a community wants to open a storm shelter for the public, that's up to local officials, But there's no database that Oklahomans can consult showing where public or wheelchair-accessible shelters are located.
School Districts Grapple With Quarantines, Face Masks And Fear
By Anna Almendrala
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, school districts, especially those with large Chinese student populations, are in uncharted territory as they apply new federal travel rules to their students. Some also are weighing requests from parents that are more about fear than science, such as whether to allow students with no travel history to stay home from school.
Listen: Missouri Efforts Show How Hard It Is To Treat Pain Without Opioids
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber was interviewed by KBIA’s Sebastián Martínez Valdivia to discuss the challenges Missouri faces in managing patients’ pain amid the opioid epidemic.
Trump’s Medicaid Chief Labels Medicaid ‘Mediocre.’ Is It?
By Phil Galewitz
This claim ‘wouldn’t pass muster’ in a first-year statistics class.
Scalpels Out: Democrats Make Slashing Attacks On Health Care Plans
By Emmarie Huetteman and Victoria Knight and Shefali Luthra
Candidates’ tough health policy talk strayed far from hope for unity.
Obamacare A Disgrace? Biden Highlights Bloomberg’s Negative Remarks About The ACA
By Shefali Luthra and Victoria Knight
There was a time when Bloomberg’s criticism was consistent.
Sanders’ Claim That Buttigieg Is ‘Favorite Of The Health Care Industry’ Is Broad And Needs Context
By Victoria Knight
It all comes down to how you define it.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Labor Pains Of ‘Medicare For All’
Organized labor is divided over whether to support “Medicare for All.” Meanwhile, many of the Democratic presidential candidates seem unable to use the health issue to their advantage. Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists offer their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Stalked By The Fear That Dementia Is Stalking You
By Judith Graham
For those worried they have an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, testing is an option. But words to the wise: It’s hardly foolproof and could even backfire by heightening your fear of memory loss.
Surge In Enrollment As Californians Avoid Penalty, Receive State Aid
By Rachel Bluth and Samantha Young
Although a new state tax penalty and state financial aid motivated people to sign up for health insurance this year, Covered California is reopening enrollment for those who said they weren’t aware of them.
It’s Not Just Hospitals That Sue Patients Who Can’t Pay
By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio
Until very recently, the separate company that runs the emergency department at Nashville General Hospital in Tennessee was continuing to haul patients who couldn't pay medical bills into court.
Abortion-Rights Supporters Fear Loss Of Access If Adventist Saves Hospital
By Amy Littlefield
As community hospitals struggle, they often turn to large religious-based hospital groups to bail them out. But that can limit the types of services they offer, especially reproductive health treatment such as abortion.
Analysis: Who Profits From Steep Medical Bills? The People Tasked With Fixing Them.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
Surprise bills are just the latest weapons in a decades-long war among health care industry players over who gets to keep the fortunes generated each year from patient illness: $3.6 trillion in 2018. The practice is an outrage, yet no one in the health care sector wants to unilaterally make the type of big concessions that would change things.