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Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the new head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said the administration will focus on getting more people insured and is interested in finding a way to alleviate the gap keeping low-income families in states that haven鈥檛 expanded Medicaid from enrolling in Affordable Care Act health plans.
The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to nearly double in the next 40 years. Finding a way to provide and pay for the long-term health services they need won't be easy.
Experts offer advice on how seniors struggling with physical, emotional and cognitive challenges following a year of being cooped up can address issues such as muscle weakness, poor nutrition, disrupted sleep, anxiety and social isolation.
A little-discussed, long-term toll of the pandemic is that large numbers of older adults have become physically and cognitively debilitated and less able to care for themselves after sheltering in place.
When the covid pandemic hit, Dr. Rebecca Elon was thrust into a new role, primary caregiver for her severely ill husband and her elderly mother. 鈥淩eading about caregiving of this kind was one thing. Experiencing it was entirely different,鈥 she says.
Across Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, where death rates from stroke are above the national average, routing patients from rural areas to the right level of care can be an intricate jigsaw puzzle. The closest hospital might not offer the full scope of stroke treatments, but hospitals with more advanced care could be hours away.
Even as the nation has moved on to vaccinating everyone 16 and older, the vast majority of people homebound due to frailty or age 鈥 and among the most vulnerable to covid鈥檚 devastation 鈥 have not yet been vaccinated. California offers a sharp lens on the challenges.
How do dozens of people living communally decide what to do during a public health crisis when members have varying tolerance for risk and different opinions about safe practices?
Medicare Advantage company may face record penalty over alleged billing errors.
Like many states, California is seeing huge regional variations in covid vaccination rates for people 65 and older. Remote rural counties are in some cases struggling to give away doses to vulnerable seniors, while metropolitan areas often have more demand than supply.
Whether it鈥檚 making plans to hug their grandchildren, scheduling long-overdue medical appointments or just petting the neighbor鈥檚 dog, seniors are inching back to a lifestyle they鈥檝e missed during the pandemic.
Watch an intimate conversation about this workforce, which provides vital care to vulnerable people. Our panel included those doing the work and those who rely on them, as well as expert insight on improving the jobs, honoring the care and paying for it all.
Federal records show a steep decline in staff covid cases since December, when health care workers at thousands of nursing homes began getting their shots. Still, many are reluctant to get vaccinated.
As the recent winter storm disaster in Texas showed, many long-term care sites aren鈥檛 required to have backup power supplies or other redundancies to keep residents safe when disaster strikes.
Check out KHN鈥檚 video series 鈥 Behind The Byline: How the Story Got Made. Come along as journalists and producers offer an insider鈥檚 view of health care coverage that does not quit.
Relatives and advocates are calling for federal authorities to relax restrictions in long-term care institutions and grant special status to 鈥渆ssential caregivers鈥 鈥 family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care 鈥 so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.
The debate begins with the covid death tallies. But the issues go beyond basic numbers.
On Monday, Connecticut will be the first state to begin vaccinating anyone from age 55 to 64 鈥 instead of people with chronic health issues and essential workers.
Health organizations have begun sending doctors and nurses to apartment buildings and private homes to vaccinate homebound seniors, but the efforts are slow and spotty.
Some assisted living facilities, pharmacy chains and health care providers are luring new customers with covid shots.
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