According to a study released on May 18 by the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, the pharmaceutical corporation AbbVie has raised prices 470% in the United States for its widely used drugs Humira and Imbruvica over the past two decades. The price increases boosted the co... Read more
KHN: Biden Seeks $400 Billion to Buttress Long-Term Care. A Look at What’s at Stake.
There’s widespread agreement that it’s important to help older adults and people with disabilities remain independent as long as possible. But are we prepared to do what’s necessary, as a nation, to make this possible?
That’s the challenge President Joe Biden has put f... Read more
‘I Can Breathe Again’: Older Adults Begin to Test Freedom After Covid Vaccinations
With a mix of relief and caution, older adults fully vaccinated against covid-19 are moving out into the world and resuming activities put on hold during the pandemic.
Many are making plans to see adult children and hug grandchildren they haven’t visited for months — o... Read more
KHN: Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill
A cost-saving change in Medicare launched in the final days of the Trump administration will cut payments to hospitals for some surgical procedures while potentially raising costs and confusion for patients.
For years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services class... Read more
KHN: Covid Cases Plummet 83% Among Nursing Home Staffers Despite Vaccine Hesitancy
Joan Phillips, a certified nursing assistant in a Florida nursing home, loved her job but dreaded the danger of going to work in the pandemic. When vaccines became available in December, she jumped at the chance to get one.
Months later, it appears that danger ... Read more
KHN: Reopening of Long-Term Care Facilities Is ‘an Absolute Necessity for Our Well-Being’
For nearly a year, nursing homes and assisted living centers have been mostly closed to visitors. Now, it’s time for them to open back up and relieve residents of crushing isolation, according to a growing chorus of long-term care experts, caregivers, consumer gro... Read more
KHN: Why AstraZeneca and J&J’s Vaccines, In Use Elsewhere, Are Still on Hold in America
By Sarah Jane Tribble
The World Health Organization greenlighted emergency use of AstraZeneca and Oxford’s covid-19 vaccine this month, following in the steps of the United Kingdom, the European Union and others, who are already injecting it as quickly as possible into ... Read more
KHN: Countless Homebound Patients Still Wait for Covid Vaccine Despite Seniors’ Priority
By Judith Graham
Opening another front in the nation’s response to the pandemic, medical centers and other health organizations have begun sending doctors and nurses to apartment buildings and private homes to vaccinate homebound seniors.
Boston Medical Center, which ... Read more
KHN: As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them
Fed up with a lack of federal action to lower prescription drug costs, state legislators around the country are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels.
These bills, sponsored by both Republicans and Dem... Read more