Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Care Ranks At The Top Of Americans' Financial Woes
The Hill: Families List Health Care As Top Financial Problem: Poll
Health care costs are the top financial issue facing most American families, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday. About 17 percent of Americans said health care was their most significant financial issue, followed by 11 percent citing lack of money or low wages, 8 percent saying college expenses, 8 percent saying the cost of owning or renting a home and 8 percent saying taxes. (Axelrod, 5/30)
In other news on health care costs —
Kaiser Health News: Mired In Medical Debt? Federal Plan Would Update Overdue-Bill Collection Methods
Elham Mirshafiei was at the library cramming for final exams during her senior year at California State University-Long Beach when she grew nauseated and started vomiting. After the 10th episode in an hour, a friend took her to the nearest emergency room. Diagnosis: an intestinal bug and severe dehydration. In a few hours, she was home again, with instructions to eat a bland diet and drink plenty of fluids. That was in 2010. But the $4,000 bill for the brief emergency department visit at an out-of-network hospital has trailed her ever since. Mirshafiei, 31, has a good job now as a licensed insurance adviser in Palo Alto, Calif. (Andrews, 5/31)
Kaiser Health News: Hospitals Accused Of Paying Doctors Large Kickbacks In Quest For Patients
For a hospital that had once labored to break even, Wheeling Hospital displayed abnormally deep pockets when recruiting doctors. To lure Dr. Adam Tune, an anesthesiologist from nearby Pittsburgh who specialized in pain management, the Catholic hospital built a clinic for him to run on its campus in Wheeling, W.Va. It paid Tune as much as $1.2 million a year — well above the salaries of 90% of pain management physicians across the nation, the federal government charged in a lawsuit filed this spring. (Rau, 5/31)
