Insurers Scale Back Nursing Home Coverage After Costs Soar

The Baltimore Sun reports that long-term care insurance has proven to be a tough business, as four of the top five providers have scaled back their business or stopped selling new policies. Meanwhile, nurses and orderlies suffer a high rate of on-the-job injuries, but NPR reports that medical facilities and regulators aren't doing enough to protect them.

Thirty years ago, insurance companies had the answer to the soaring cost of caring for the elderly. Plan ahead and buy a policy that will cover your expenses. Now, there's a new problem: Even insurers think it's unaffordable. (Craft, 3/24)

Just about everybody who has studied the hospital industry agrees that it needs to confront the epidemic that plagues many of its staff: Tens of thousands of nursing employees suffer debilitating injuries every year, mainly from doing part of their everyday jobs — moving and lifting patients. The problem is, nobody agrees how to get hospitals to take aggressive action. As NPR has been reporting in its Injured Nurses series, nursing employees suffer more back and arm injuries than just about any other occupations. (Zwerdling, 3/24)

In other news -

Certain cancer hospitals get significantly higher payments from Medicare in part because it's assumed they care for sicker populations. A federal report suggests that's not generally the case. (Rubenfire, 3/24)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

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