Yearly Archives: 2022

The pandemic crisis has overwhelmed understaffed state Medicaid agencies, already delaying access to the insurance program in Missouri. As the public health emergency ends, low-income people nationwide could find it even harder to have coverage.

The part of my London visit that I didn’t plan was testing positive for the coronavirus. I couldn’t get back to the U.S., but the U.K. didn’t care what I did or where I went.

The Biden administration unveiled a new special enrollment option aimed at signing up low-income Americans for Affordable Care Act coverage — even if it is outside of the usual annual open enrollment period. But insurers are cutting broker commissions at the same time.

The former Tennessee nurse faces prison time for a fatal error. Reaction from her peers was swift and fierce on social media and beyond ― and it isn’t over.

The more than $16 billion, decade-long effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs was designed to provide seamless electronic health records for patients from enlistment in the military past discharge.

Many sleep scientists maintain that people who prefer to stay up late could improve their mental and physical health by synchronizing their natural sleep cycles with workday demands. The flexible work schedules that came with covid’s work-from-home trend, according to one new study, backs up this idea.

CMS chief Chiquita Brooks-LaSure says the agency reserves its power to quickly institute new regulations for “absolute emergencies.” On staffing, nursing home residents might need to wait years to see any real change.

Private and public employers are increasingly using the government’s Medicare Advantage program as an alternative to their existing retiree health plan and traditional Medicare coverage. As a result, the federal government is paying the “overwhelming majority” of medical costs, according to an industry analyst.

The pandemic has shown that loosening the strict regulations on distributing methadone helps people recovering from addiction stay in treatment. But clinics with a financial stake in keeping the status quo don’t want to make permanent changes.

President Joe Biden spent a large portion of his first State of the Union address talking about foreign affairs, but he also spent time on an array of health topics, including mental health, nursing home regulation, and toxic burn pits. Also this week, the administration unveiled a strategy to address the covid pandemic going forward. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.