3/ Sadly @KrutikaAmin found that not only did the U.S. experience some of the worst excess death rates overall in 2020, we also saw many more young people die than did peer countries. Again, this is in part due to racial disparities, as more POC died young healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid-19…
5/ @KrutikaAmin also found that over 𝟔𝟗𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 could have been prevented by vaccination between June to November 2021. We estimate the bills for these preventable hospitalizations topped $𝟏𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧.
6/ @KrutikaAmin & @matthew_t_rae dug into Epic data, finding vaccinated people hospitalized with “breakthrough” COVID-19 were disproportionately older and more likely to have high-risk comorbidities, but also had shorter hospital stays than unvaccinated healthsystemtracker.org/brief/characte…
7/ @NirmitaPanchal and @rubbah documented the steep rise in mental health concerns during the pandemic. Low-income people, parents, and Black & Hispanic people were particularly more likely to experience negative mental health effects from the pandemic kff.org/coronavirus-co…
I tried and failed to get a COVID vaccine yesterday.
None of my HMO's in-network pharmacies have the booster in stock yet. So, I tried to go to an out-of-network pharmacy.
I knew this might mean paying $200. I'm going to be traveling next week, so I was willing to pay, but...
2/ Walgreens (the out-of-network pharmacy) is apparently not set up to accept cash payments for vaccines. Even though they understood I was willing to pay out-of-pocket, they have to go through my insurance. The helpful pharmacy tech spent an hour on the phone with my HMO trying
3/ Ultimately, my insurer said I have to get prior authorization to go out-of-network, even though they don't have COVID vaccines in stock in-network.
My insurer asked me to track down the fax number (!) for my doctor even though my doctor works at a facility owned by the insurer
1/ Biden will end the #PublicHealthEmergency (PHE) on May 11.
If you have private health insurance coverage, here's what will (and will not) change for you with the end of the PHE
2/ For people with private insurance, the big change with the end of the Public Health Emergency on May 11th will likely be higher costs for COVID tests.
Those free COVID tests (and associated Dr. visits) your insurance offers now may end in a few months kff.org/coronavirus-co…
3/ For people with private insurance, the end of the Public Health Emergency does NOT affect your coverage for COVID vax/boosters
Rather, a change will come whenever the federal vax supply runs out (this is TBD). Then, privately insured folks may need an in-network provider
3/ Of course #COVID is still here, even when the #PublicHealthEmergency ends.
We estimated COVID was on track to be the 3rd leading cause of death in 2022, for the 3rd year in a row.
U.S. life expectancy has taken a bigger hit than peer countries. healthsystemtracker.org/brief/the-stat…
2/🧵 First, what is not causing a growing share of covid deaths among vaxxed people?
While most people dying of covid are age 50+ these aren't all "incidental" deaths that would've happened anyway
Cause of death is investigated & many more people died than expected (excess death)
3/🧵 One reason we're seeing vaccinated people represent a larger share of covid deaths?
Vaccinated people also represent a larger share of the population.
If 100% of people were vaccinated, 100% of deaths would be among vaccinated people.
@KrutikaAmin@jenkatesdc@joshmich@JaredOrtaliza@KFF@PetersonCHealth 2/🧵 Our analysis focuses on deaths that could have been prevented by the primary vaccines. Even more deaths -- among both the unvaccinated and vaccinated -- likely would have been prevented by greater uptake of booster shots.
2/ People with affordable employer coverage can't get ACA subsidies.
Under current law, "affordable" is defined just based on the employee's premium. So an employee might have "affordable" coverage, even if it'd be unaffordable to their add spouse/kids to the plan (the "glitch").
3/ The Biden Admin is proposing to change the interpretation of this ACA provision, saying that family members in this circumstance do NOT have access to affordable coverage, and they should be eligible for subsidies on the ACA marketplace.
Proposal here: public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2022-07158.pdf