What does a parent’s birthday have to do with a newborn’s health insurance? Quite a lot, as Kayla Kjelshus and her husband, Mikkel, found out after their daughter Charlie arrived, along with a $271,000 medical bill.
Both parents were insured separately, and they chose Kayla’s insurance -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City -- for Charlie’s birth because it offered better rates and was located in-state. But when Charlie had to go into the NICU from complications at birth, Blue Cross started investigating, discovered Mikkel had his own insurance, and stopped paying the bills.
The Kjelshus were caught up in the so-called birthday rule, an insurance rule that requires a newborn to be primarily covered by the plan of the parent whose birthday comes first in the calendar year. In this case, that was Mikkel’s more expensive, less-comprehensive health plan.
With all the COVID concerns on our minds, a lot of us are trying to figure out how to establish boundaries with the people we're close to. Whether that means saying, "Sorry, I can't attend this indoor gathering" or speaking up when a relationship has become toxic, boundaries can look different to different people.
NPR's Life Kit asked two experts — writer and wellness consultant Alex Elle and therapist and author Andrea Bonior — to share tools and principles for setting boundaries.
Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, most consumers cannot get a true N95 mask -- the kind that filters out 95% of airborne infectious particles -- despite begging and pleading with retailers. That's because supply is limited and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still says that N95 masks should be prioritized for health care workers.
Yet even health care workers are still being asked to ration their masks, which are intended for single-use-only. So what gives?
The story is pretty much the same with all medical supplies during this pandemic -- from ventilators and exam gloves to syringes and vaccines, NPR’s Yuki Noguchi explains. The demand is global and sustained, and puts pressure on a fragile supply chain that can’t keep up. And fraud is rampant, so some seller choose to remain out of stock rather than take a chance on a international supplier.
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