Category: Kaiser Health News

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

N.Y. Leads The Nation In COVID-19 Tests, But The Effort Still Lags Behind Demand

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.

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

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.

Jails And Prisons Spring Thousands To Prevent Coronavirus Outbreaks

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

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

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.

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

“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.”

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

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.