Seniors Face Crushing Drug Costs as Congress Stalls on Capping Medicare Out-Of-Pockets
Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations. Clark, 57, a former insurance agent who lives in Bixby, Oklahoma, had to stop working in 2015 and go on Social Security disability and […]
Live Free or Die if You Must, Say Colorado Urbanites — But Not in My Hospital
ERIE, Colo. — Whenever Larry Kelderman looks up from the car he’s fixing and peers across the street, he’s looking across a border. His town of 28,000 straddles two counties, separated by County Line Road. Kelderman’s auto repair business is in Boulder County, whose officials are sticklers for public health and have topped the county […]
In Fast-Moving Pandemic, Health Officials Try to Change Minds at Warp Speed
Nine months into the pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 people in the U.S., Kim Larson is still trying to convince others in her northern Montana county that COVID-19 is dangerous. As Hill County Health Department director and county health officer, Larson continues to hear people say the coronavirus is just like a bad […]
Analysis: Some Said the Vaccine Rollout Would Be a ‘Nightmare.’ They Were Right.
WASHINGTON — Even before there was a vaccine, some seasoned doctors and public health experts warned, Cassandra-like, that its distribution would be “a logistical nightmare.” After Week 1 of the rollout, “nightmare” sounds like an apt description. Dozens of states say they didn’t receive nearly the number of promised doses. Pfizer says millions of doses […]
COVID Vaccines Appear Safe and Effective, but Key Questions Remain
The recent rollout of two newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines is a bright ray of hope at the pandemic’s darkest hour. We now have a path that can lead us to happier times — even as we watch and suffer from the horrible onslaught of new infections, hospitalizations and deaths that mark the end of this […]
Retiree Living the RV Dream Fights $12,387 Nightmare Lab Fee
Lorraine Rogge and her husband, Michael Rogge, travel the country in a recreational vehicle, a well-earned adventure in retirement. This spring found them parked in Artesia, New Mexico, for several months. In May, Rogge, 60, began to feel pelvic pain and cramping. But she had had a total hysterectomy in 2006, so the pain seemed […]
As the Terror of COVID Struck, Health Care Workers Struggled to Survive. Thousands Lost the Fight.
Workers at Garfield Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge as the pandemic ramped up in March and April. Staffers in a 30-patient unit were rationing a single tub of sanitizing wipes all day. A May memo from the CEO said N95 masks could be cleaned up to 20 times before replacement. Patients […]
More Than 2,900 Health Care Workers Died This Year — And the Government Barely Kept Track
More than 2,900 U.S. health care workers have died in the COVID-19 pandemic since March, a far higher number than that reported by the government, according to a new analysis by KHN and The Guardian. Fatalities from the coronavirus have skewed young, with the majority of victims under age 60 in the cases for which […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: 2020 in Review — It Wasn’t All COVID
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. COVID-19 was the dominant — but not the only — health policy story of 2020. In this special year-in-review episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” podcast, panelists look back at some of the biggest non-coronavirus stories. Those included Supreme Court cases on the Affordable Care […]
Inside the First Chaotic Days of the Effort to Vaccinate America
[UPDATED on Dec. 23] One tray of COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer contains 975 doses — way too many for a rural hospital in Arkansas. But with the logistical gymnastics required to safely get the Pfizer vaccine to rural health care workers, splitting the trays into smaller shipments has its own dangers. Once out […]