In Super-Vaxxed Vermont, Covid Strikes — But Packs Far Less Punch
Even Eden, a snow-covered paradise in northern Vermont, is poisoned by omicron. The nearly vertical ascent of new coronavirus cases in recent weeks, before peaking in mid-January, affected nearly every mountain hamlet, every shuttered factory town, every frozen bucolic college campus in this state despite its near-perfect vaccination record. Of all the states, Vermont appeared […]
Readers and Tweeters: Give Nurse Practitioners Their Due
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. https://twitter.com/racheljpat/status/1485620441175711745 — Rachel Patterson, Washington, D.C. In Respect to Nurse Practitioners My dispute with this story (“Bill of the Month: The Doctor Didn’t Show Up, but the Hospital ER Still Charged […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Record ACA Enrollment Puts Pressure on Congress
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Click here for a transcript of this episode. The Biden administration announced that 14.5 million Americans have signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act […]
CDC Tells Pharmacies to Give 4th Covid Shots to Immunocompromised Patients
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reached out to pharmacists Wednesday to reinforce the message that people with moderate to severe immune suppression are eligible for fourth covid shots. The conference call came a day after KHN reported that immunocompromised people were being turned away by pharmacy employees unfamiliar with the latest CDC guidelines. […]
I Write About America’s Absurd Health Care System. Then I Got Caught Up in It.
I got a hurried voicemail from my pharmacist in Wisconsin the day before Thanksgiving letting me know my insurance was refusing to cover my insulin. I had enough of the hormone that keeps me alive to last 17 days. In my 10 years living with Type 1 diabetes, I’ve never really struggled to access insulin. […]
Pharmacies Are Turning Away Immunocompromised Patients Seeking 4th Covid Shot
Patients with weakened immune systems — who are at high risk from covid-19 — say pharmacies are turning them away when they seek additional vaccine doses recommended by federal health officials. Alyson Smith became eligible this month for a fourth vaccine dose because her medications leave her immunocompromised. Although the Centers for Disease Control and […]
With a Vaccine Mandate Looming, Nursing Homes Face More Staffing Problems
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Jamie Smith, a staffing agency nurse who loves end-of-life care, said she has been warmly welcomed by staffers and residents at Frontier Health & Rehabilitation in this conservative St. Louis suburb. That’s even though she has not been vaccinated against covid-19. But leaders of the nursing home, where 22 residents died […]
Farmacias rechazan a pacientes con problemas inmunes que necesitan una cuarta dosis de la vacuna contra covid
Los pacientes con sistemas inmunes debilitados, que tienen un riesgo mayor de covid-19 y sus complicaciones, dicen que las farmacias los rechazan cuando buscan dosis adicionales de las vacunas recomendadas por los funcionarios federales de salud. Alyson Smith se convirtió en elegible en enero para una cuarta dosis de la vacuna contra covid porque sus […]
The Doctor Didn’t Show Up, but the Hospital ER Still Charged $1,012
Dhaval Bhatt had been warned about hospital emergency rooms. “People always told me to avoid the ER in America unless you are really dying,” said Bhatt, an immigrant from India who got a Ph.D. in pharmacology in the U.S. and is now a research scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. But when Bhatt’s 2-year-old […]
Vaccine Wars Ignite in California as Lawmakers Seek Stronger Laws
SACRAMENTO — California is poised to become the front line of America’s vaccination wars. State lawmakers are drafting the toughest covid-19 vaccine legislation in the country, backed by a new pro-vaccine lobbying force promising to counter anti-vaccine activists who have threatened government officials and shut down public meetings across the state. Legislators want to require […]