Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
Free COVID-19 testing is happening today at the Monarch Stadium at The Legends Outlets, near I-435 and I-70 in Kansas City, Kansas.
The testing will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5.
The testing is through Swope Health, the Unified Government Health Department, the Wyandotte County Health Equity Task Force and the KC Monarchs.
All those attending will receive nasal swab (PCR) tests covered at no cost to them.
by Jennifer Shutt, Kansas Reflector
Washington — Starting this spring, Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month at no cost.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday that eligible pharmacies and participating organizations will begin distributing the tests in the coming months to individuals on either original Medicare or in Medicare Advantage plans.
“There are a number of issues that have made it difficult to cover and pay for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests,” the agency said in a statement. “However, given the importance of expanding access to testing, CMS has identified a pathway that will expand access to free over-the-counter testing for Medicare beneficiaries.”
Under the plan, Medicare will pay participating pharmacies and organizations for at-home COVID-19 tests that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Medicare participants will then be able to pick up the tests at those locations once the program launches in the early spring.
The change of policy follows weeks of pushback from lawmakers and various advocacy groups after the White House began requiring private health insurance companies to cover the cost of eight at-home COVID-19 tests per month, but didn’t provide the same requirement for Medicare.
Medicare isn’t actually allowed to pay for self-administered diagnostic tests under the law that determines what the government-run health insurance program can and cannot do.
Medicare participants are, however, covered for PCR and rapid antigen testing done in a laboratory.
Medicare recipients also have the option of ordering at-home tests for free from the website the federal government launched in late January, COVIDtests.gov, or picking up tests from thousands of locations that are distributing them for free to the general public.
CMS on Thursday continued encouraging people in the Medicare program to get at-home tests through those avenues until the new program launches.
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell, who urged the Biden administration to find a way to provide Medicare beneficiaries with free at-home tests, lauded the announcement.
“Medicare recipients make up nearly one-fifth of all Americans. As the covid virus continues to ravage our country, it makes no sense that some of our most vulnerable neighbors were on the hook to test themselves at home,” Pascrell said in a statement. “The Biden administration has made a commonsense decision to provide eight at-home tests per month to Medicare beneficiaries at no cost.”
Pascrell and California Democratic Rep. Scott Peters sent a letter to the Biden administration in January calling on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to find a way to provide free tests to people in the program.
Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/02/03/free-at-home-covid-tests-to-be-handed-out-to-medicare-beneficiaries-this-spring/.
by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — New research from a women’s economic and civic advancement group and the University of Kansas draws connections between rising unemployment among women, difficulty accessing child care and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Status of Women in Kansas report released Wednesday found the impacts of COVID-19 are disproportionately affecting women. Caregiving responsibilities, the closure of in-person schools and working from home have had a significant impact on women’s employment, report findings indicate.
For example, in the quarter before COVID-19, women accounted for 32% of unemployment claims, but after March 2020, women averaged 46% of the claims. The unemployment rate for women peaked at just over 16% in April 2020.
Wendy Doyle, president and CEO of United WE, said research from the McKinsey Global Institute showed increased women’s participation can lead to as much as a 10% to 15% increase in economic activity in the state.
“We have a long, 30-year history of investing in evidence-based research and data to drive nonpartisan policy solutions to reduce barriers for women and their families,” Doyle said. “When we reduce these barriers, it helps everyone, including our state’s economy, to flourish.”
The study follows up on a similar report from 2016 aimed at centering issues women in Kansas are facing. In response to the 2022 report, a women’s economic development task force is set to dive into issues of women’s participation in the workforce.
The Kansas Women’s Economic Development task force will conduct town halls across the state to hear firsthand from women about experiences and challenges before and after the onset of the pandemic. Panel work and town hall results will feed into a report with results, key findings and potential recommendations for policymakers and advocates to tackle.
“We are working right now to put (the task force) together and really have varied representation by geography and industry of women … to create awareness of the town halls to encourage women to participate and engage in the conversation,” Doyle said.
One major area in need of extra attention is a lack of access to affordable child care, which Donna Ginther, director of the Institute for Policy and Social Research at KU, said pushed many women out of the labor force during the pandemic. Now, she said, it is holding many women back from re-entering the workforce.
“Infant care is less affordable in Kansas than in other states,” Ginther said. “The average annual cost of infant care is about $11,000 a year, which is close to 30% of the median woman’s income in the state. So, if a woman works, and she wants to put her child in high-quality infant care, it’s going to be a third of her paycheck, and that’s too high.”
Ginther said high-quality child care costs are comparable to college tuition for in-state KU students. She noted that 300 licensed child care providers closed in 2020 in Kansas, making cost and accessibility growing issues.
The report also indicated that for every dollar earned by a man in Kansas, women made only 78 cents in 2020. This is less than the national average of $0.82 per dollar.
“Factual data is the first step in telling an accurate story of the lives of Kansas women,” Ginther said. “This research validates the importance of removing barriers and advocating for policies that support women, ultimately making families and communities healthier and the economy stronger.”
Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/02/02/kansas-women-struggling-to-re-enter-workforce-as-affordable-childcare-remains-scarce-reports-says/