Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Many People Want A Stop To Surprise Billing, But In This Fight The Devil's In Who Does Get Saddled With The Costs
Modern Healthcare: Surprise Medical Billing Gets Increased Industry Lobbying
The debate over federal curbs on surprise medical bills has it all: inter-industry finger-pointing, slippery-slope warnings about rate-setting and dueling narratives about what the problem is. Last week President Donald Trump invited people who have been hit with surprise bills to the White House, where he vowed to end the practice that puts patients on the hook for the often exorbitant price tag of out-of-network treatment. The issue is a political winner. (Luthi, 1/28)
Kaiser Health News: Man Faints After Flu Shot, Gets Stuck With $4,700 Hospital Bill
Matt Gleason had skipped getting a flu shot for more than a decade. But after suffering a nasty bout of the virus last winter, he decided to get vaccinated at his Charlotte, N.C., workplace in October. “It was super easy and free,” said Gleason, 39, a sales operations analyst. That is, until Gleason fainted five minutes after getting the shot. Though he came to quickly and had a history of fainting, his colleague called 911. And when the paramedics sat him up, he began vomiting. That symptom worried him enough to agree to go to the hospital in an ambulance. (Galewitz, 1/28)
In any industry and costs news —
Kaiser Health News: Community Hospitals Link Arms With Prestigious Facilities To Raise Their Profiles
After seven years of a vigorous fight, Jim Hart worried he was running out of options. Diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 60, Hart had undergone virtually every treatment — surgery, radiation and hormones — to eradicate it. But a blood test showed that his level of prostate-specific antigen, which should have been undetectable, kept rising ominously. And doctors couldn’t determine where the residual cancer was lurking. (Boodman, 1/29)
