Rae Ellen Bichell

Author's posts

With Federal Covid Sick Leave Gone, Workers Feel Pressure to Show Up at Work

National paid sick leave provisions for covid expired, and an uncertain covid winter is around the corner. Los Angeles and Oakland are among the places trying to fill the gap, but many employees still face financial pressure to go to work while sick.

A Covid Head-Scratcher: Why Lice Lurk Despite Physical Distancing

With kids back in school, business is picking back up for professional nitpickers. But how are kids getting head lice if they’re physically distancing in the classroom?

A hospital hiked the price of their healthy baby’s birth by calling it an ’emergency’

“Obstetrical emergency departments” are a new aspect of some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask baby Gus’s parents about their $2,755 ER charge.

How Billing Turns a Routine Birth Into a High-Cost Emergency

“Obstetrical emergency departments” are a new feature in some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask the parents of Baby Gus.

Covid Testing, Turnaround Times Are Still Uneven This Far Into Pandemic

The availability of covid testing and turnaround times for results still vary widely around the country, some 19 months since the pandemic was declared a national crisis. A jumbled testing system, technician burnout and squirrely spikes in demand are all part of the problem.

A Colorado Town Is About as Vaccinated as It Can Get. Covid Still Isn’t Over There.

San Juan County, Colorado, is one of the most vaccinated counties in the U.S. Leaders across the country continue to expound on the vaccine as the path forward in the pandemic. But San Juan’s experience the past few weeks with its first covid hospitalizations shows that, even with an extremely vaccinated population, masks are still necessary.

School or ‘Russian Roulette’? Amid Delta Variant and Lax Mask Rules, Some Parents See No Difference

Students in many places are starting the new school year with their masks off — even in one Colorado county that was one of the nation’s first delta variant hot spots.

Red State, Blue State, Twin Outbreak: Behind Wyoming and Colorado’s Anomalous Covid Spikes

Statistics show that Colorado residents are much more likely than Wyoming residents to be vaccinated against covid. Yet both Wyoming and Colorado were among the top 12 states with the highest covid case rates at the beginning of July. A closer look at a pair of similarly sized counties in those states helps explain why.

Delta Variant Surges in Colorado as the Bands Play On

Mesa County is a breeding ground for the covid-19 delta variant, but few would guess with tens of thousands of people flocking to the state’s largest country music festival.

A Hospital Charged More Than $700 For Each Push Of Medicine Through Her IV

A college student never learned the cause of intense pain that drove her to an ER, but her bill totaled $18,735.93. She and her mom, a nurse practitioner, were outraged after dissecting the charges.