Author's posts
As Workers Struggle With Pandemic’s Impact, Employers Expand Mental Health Benefits
Many job-based health plans broadened their mental health and substance use coverage to make sure workers had the support they needed this year as pandemic stress lingered, the annual KFF survey finds. Also, the proportion of employers offering health insurance to their workers remained steady, and increases for premiums and out-of-pocket health expenses were moderate.
Unvaccinated? Don’t Count on Leaving Your Family Death Benefits
Blurb: Some front-line workers who die of covid-19 have been considered eligible for accidental death benefits because it is presumed their infection was contracted on the job. But some employers now suggest that if the workers didn’t follow established safety protocols, such as getting vaccinated, those benefits may be denied.
Democrats’ Plans to Expand Medicare Benefits Put Pinch on Advantage Plans’ Funding
As lawmakers weigh new spending provisions to cover dental, hearing and vision services for Medicare beneficiaries, a group supporting Medicare Advantage plans is airing commercials that raise concerns about the funding for those private plans.
Mandatory Vaccines for Health Care Workers Might Upend Nurses’ Training
The Biden administration is requiring workers at health care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid payments to be vaccinated. For the minority of nursing students who have refused a shot, the new policy could mean they can’t get the training they need in a hospital or other health care venue.
Biosimilar Drugs Are Cheaper Than Biologics. Are They Similar Enough to Switch?
Biologic drugs, made from living organisms, and the cheaper biosimilar drugs that mimic them are more complex than chemical drugs and their generic counterparts. The Food and Drug Administration says biosimilars are as safe and effective as the biologics, and doctors agree — but they are cautious about changing the treatment regimen of patients doing well.
Even in Red States, Colleges Gravitate to Requiring Vaccines and Masks
As students return to campus, schools across the country are taking steps to enforce public health advice to keep people safe from covid. In deeply conservative South Carolina when elected officials tried to stop that, a professor took on the establishment and won.
Reading, ’Rithmetic and Resisting Covid: The New 3 R’s as Kids Head Back to School
Children under 12 can’t get a vaccine, so parents are concerned about how to keep them safe as classes resume — especially as the delta variant spreads.
Reading, ’Rithmetic and Resisting Covid: The New 3 R’s as Kids Head Back to School
Children under 12 can’t get a vaccine, so parents are concerned about how to keep them safe as classes resume — especially as the delta variant spreads.
Sign-Up Window for Free COBRA Coverage for Many Laid-Off Workers Closes This Week
The most recent covid relief law offered federal funding to pay insurance premiums for workers who lost their jobs and opted to keep their workplace insurance through COBRA. But the window to take advantage of the subsidized coverage is closing: Many workers would need to enroll in the program by July 31.
Contraception Is Free to Women, Except When It’s Not
The landmark federal health law required most commercial health plans to cover a comprehensive list of birth control methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration free of charge to female patients. But health plans don’t have to cover every option, and newer methods are not included in the federal list of covered services.
