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Medicare has proposed limiting coverage of Aduhelm, the costly new drug to treat Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, and several prominent groups representing patients and their families are pressing the program to make it more widely available. But among individuals facing the disease, the outlook is more nuanced.
Private and public employers are increasingly using the government鈥檚 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 鈥渙verwhelming majority鈥 of medical costs, according to an industry analyst.
CMS chief Chiquita Brooks-LaSure says the agency reserves its power to quickly institute new regulations for 鈥渁bsolute emergencies.鈥 On staffing, nursing home residents might need to wait years to see any real change.
The president wants to set minimum staffing levels for the beleaguered nursing home industry. But, given a lack of transparency surrounding the industry鈥檚 finances, it鈥檚 a mystery how facilities will shoulder the added costs.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Nine seniors from across the country talk frankly about feeling alone and constrained, missing church, and family routines. They also share newfound hope and discoveries that arose from the crisis.
The spread of the omicron variant has dashed the hopes of many older adults that the country was exiting the worst of the pandemic, leaving them anxious while their patience wears thin.
An epic battle is playing out behind the scenes over whether the government should pay for Aduhelm, an FDA-approved Alzheimer鈥檚 drug that scientists say has not been proven to work.
Congress is set to start its once-every-five-years review of the law that authorizes user fees to finance the hiring of personnel to speed the FDA review of drugs. The periodic renewals of 鈥淧DUFA鈥 also give lawmakers a chance to make other changes to the agency at the hub of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the FDA could also find itself at the center of the abortion debate and a controversial new medication to treat Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Home health and hospice agencies are experiencing extreme worker shortages, which means they can鈥檛 provide services to all the patients seeking care.
As omicron surges, more nursing homes are facing a double whammy: Lab tests are taking too long, and fast antigen tests are in short supply.
Omicron infections are surging in residential care facilities, causing massive sickouts among staff members and an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. The latest visitor restrictions and testing requirements are also compounding the isolation that residents have suffered for almost two years.
If federal officials accept a court鈥檚 decision, some patients will get a chance to seek refunds for their nursing home and other expenses.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
The laws governing Medicare don鈥檛 provide coverage for self-administered diagnostic tests, which is precisely what the rapid antigen tests are and why they are an important tool for containing the pandemic.
Relatives say it is important they be allowed to go into nursing homes because staff shortages are affecting care. And many are still upset about lengthy separations from loved ones during lockdowns earlier in the pandemic.
Medicare officials tentatively plan to restrict the use of a controversial Alzheimer鈥檚 drug to only those patients participating in clinical trials, while the Department of Health and Human Services looks into lowering the monthly Medicare Part B premium. Meanwhile, covid confusion still reigns, as the Biden administration moves, belatedly, to make more masks and tests available. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
National data shows that Black Medicare patients and their families are not making the move to comfort care as often as white patients are. Experts speculate it's related to spiritual beliefs and widespread mistrust in the medical system due to decades of discrimination.
Prominent researchers say the nationwide effort to get people to spell out how they want to be treated as they die is not improving patients鈥 care.
Fear of covid has kept some adults from moving to nursing homes, and many facilities are in trouble financially. When Nevada, Missouri, officials announced they were planning to close a home specializing in dementia care, members of the community rose up in protest.
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