Alexa Hornbeck
Alexa Hornbeck was a health care reporter for The Well News from March 2021 to August 2022. She has experience covering health and medicine topics. Her reporting focused on stories at the intersection of health, politics, social trends and science. She tracked health policy changes, women’s health and telemedicine news.
Prior to joining the TWN, Hornbeck worked for hyper local publications in San Francisco, California, and New York City. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she received graduate degrees in public health and journalism. Her undergraduate degree was completed in literary studies at The New School in New York City.
Recent Work
Hospitals across the U.S. are experiencing nearly twice as many COVID-19 patients as last winter. Coupled with clinician staffing shortages,... Read More
Hospitals across the U.S. are experiencing nearly twice as many COVID-19 patients as last winter. Coupled with clinician staffing shortages, the situation is leading to increases in provider burnout. “I think all clinicians in the country are tired. Last year the volumes in the hospitals had... Read More
Congress is looking to expand access to treatment for eating disorders among service members. The House and Senate versions of... Read More
Congress is looking to expand access to treatment for eating disorders among service members. The House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act both contain measures that would encourage -- but not require -- the Defense Department to cover residential treatment centers... Read More
When Darrell Wordelmann, a 45-year-old working in Long Branch, New Jersey, started a nonprofit for single parents with multiple sclerosis... Read More
When Darrell Wordelmann, a 45-year-old working in Long Branch, New Jersey, started a nonprofit for single parents with multiple sclerosis in 2020, he had no clue that only a few months later he would be diagnosed with the chronic disease that affects the brain and spinal... Read More
Smartwatches, or other wrist-worn devices, can help monitor for health conditions such as an irregular heart rhythm, but a study... Read More
Smartwatches, or other wrist-worn devices, can help monitor for health conditions such as an irregular heart rhythm, but a study funded by the National Institutes of Health finds that wearable devices may also cause negative effects to patients’ psychological health. “Our case study does not suggest... Read More
A recent study from researchers at the University of Washington shows that COVID-19 vaccines are well-tolerated among individuals who are... Read More
A recent study from researchers at the University of Washington shows that COVID-19 vaccines are well-tolerated among individuals who are pregnant, lactating, or planning pregnancy. “I think pregnant individuals are hardwired to try to protect their baby, and when there are vaccines and other substances we... Read More
A recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reviews decades of efforts by scientists to... Read More
A recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reviews decades of efforts by scientists to get arsenic out of rice. Arsenic, in inorganic form, is a pollutant which can stem from industrial processes and pesticides, and chronic exposure can lead to... Read More
A recent report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance finds that there are now 3 million fewer Americans in... Read More
A recent report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance finds that there are now 3 million fewer Americans in the labor force than there were before the pandemic. “At the pandemics onset, there were 18 million people on temporary layoff and now that's 1.8 million,... Read More
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island recently announced a settlement agreement... Read More
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island recently announced a settlement agreement with Brown University, which denied readmissions to undergraduate students taking medical leave for mental health. “The settlement should not be misunderstood as agreement with the claims... Read More
A new study from a team of international researchers finds that our metabolism does not slow down over the span... Read More
A new study from a team of international researchers finds that our metabolism does not slow down over the span of a lifetime as traditionally believed, but rather stalls from age 20 to 60. “We can see that infants have accelerated metabolism, and that not until... Read More
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NEW YORK — One of former President Donald Trump’s closest staff members said during testimony in a New York court... Read More
NEW YORK — One of former President Donald Trump’s closest staff members said during testimony in a New York court Friday that the former president admitted to her that he paid hush money to women with whom he had extramarital... Read More
WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and his wife were indicted on charges related to allegedly accepting nearly $600,000 in... Read More
WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and his wife were indicted on charges related to allegedly accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes and laundered funds from an oil company owned by the Azerbaijan government as well as a Mexican bank. The... Read More
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan Senate bill would provide $275 million to advance federal research and enhance medical services for women... Read More
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan Senate bill would provide $275 million to advance federal research and enhance medical services for women experiencing menopause. The bill, the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act, was introduced Thursday by Sen. Patty Murray,... Read More
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday expanded access to Affordable Care Act coverage to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals... Read More
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday expanded access to Affordable Care Act coverage to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. Starting in November, DACA recipients — individuals who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children by a parent... Read More
Approaches to quantifying the value of novel medicines evolved rapidly in the past few decades due to improved methods and... Read More
Approaches to quantifying the value of novel medicines evolved rapidly in the past few decades due to improved methods and available data. But how do we estimate how much a medicine is worth? Strangely enough, that answer depends on where... Read More
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Elissa Slotkin had less than half an hour to reckon with a retirement announcement that would... Read More
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Elissa Slotkin had less than half an hour to reckon with a retirement announcement that would reshape Michigan’s political landscape. The state's senior senator and the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, Debbie Stabenow, was about to... Read More
