Doctors Can Change Opioid Prescribing Habits, But Progress Comes In Small Doses
Research out Wednesday indicates that guidelines are making strides in cutting back the number of pain pills doctors offer after specific types of surgeries.
Where Tourism Brings Pricey Health Care, Locals Fight Back
Residents in Colorado ski resort country found relief from high insurance premiums and high hospital costs by joining forces and negotiating prices directly with the local hospital.
Trump Administration Moves To Make Health Care Costs More Transparent
The proposed rules would require hospitals to provide far more detail about the actual prices they charge insurers for patients’ care.
Klobuchar Says D.C. Has Enough Drug Lobbyists To Double-Team Lawmakers
The drug industry has the biggest lobbying war chest.
DOJ Lawyers Try New Tricks To Undo Obamacare. Will It Work?
KHN consulted legal experts about some of the arguments advanced by Trump administration lawyers during the most recent round of oral arguments in the legal challenge brought by 18 “red” states to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
Middlemen Who Save $$ On Medicines — But Maybe Not For You
Guess who’s back grabbing headlines? Pharmacy benefit managers — those companies that serve as middlemen in the prescription drug pipeline.
Trump Administration Seeks More Health Care Cost Details For Consumers
President Donald Trump ordered the federal government to help consumers benefit from gaining fuller estimates about their health care costs. But whether it will be a game changer depends on the details.
Surgeons’ Opioid-Prescribing Habits Are Hard To Kick
A new data analysis by KHN and Johns Hopkins researchers shows that even as the CDC issued warnings, surgeons handed out many times the number of opioid pills needed for post-op pain.
¿Es legal que cancelen tu cobertura de salud sin previo aviso?
Como le ocurrió a ésta, muchas familias olvidan el pago de una prima y son removidas de sus planes de salud sin recibir un alerta previa o claras notificaciones.
Dropped From Health Insurance Without Warning: Was It Legal?
People who buy insurance on their own may have little notice when something goes amiss. It’s a quirk in health policy at the heart of the next episode of ‘An Arm and a Leg’ podcast.
Un despertar: las camas y aplicaciones para dormir recolectan datos personales
El objetivo de la recopilación de datos, según Sleep Number y otras compañías, es ayudar a los estadounidenses a dormir mejor. Qué opinan los defensores de los consumidores.
Your Wake-Up Call On Data-Collecting Smart Beds And Sleep Apps
An array of products — from mattresses and sensors to sleep trackers and apps — are catching consumers’ attention. But privacy experts are concerned about what becomes of all the personal information these products collect.
Price Check On Drug Ads: Would Revealing Costs Help Patients Control Spending?
As part of his plan to tamp down drug pricing, President Donald Trump wants pharmaceutical companies to provide cost information in drug ads — just like side effects.
Association Insurance Pushes On Despite Court Ruling
Judge cited an attempted “end-run” around the Affordable Care Act in rejecting large chunks of a new rule expanding access to such plans for small businesses and single proprietors.
Workplace Wellness Programs Barely Move The Needle, Study Finds
New research published in JAMA detected some changes in healthy behavior like weight and stress, but little overall impact in workers’ health status or employer health care spending.
Health Plans For State Employees Use Medicare’s Hammer On Hospital Bills
Some plans are experimenting with the idea of closely tying hospital reimbursement rates to what Medicare pays. The approach could be a game changer in their effort to control health costs.
Broker Websites Expand Health Plan Shopping Options While Glossing Over Details
These direct-enrollment broker websites are “under-policed” and can steer consumers toward plans that may not be the best option for them, a new report concludes.
New Health Plans Expose The Insured To More Risk
Well-known insurers are offering plans with lower premiums. But they could leave patients on the hook for unexpected costs.
A Mumps Quarantine In La. May Encroach On Rights Of Detained Immigrants
A recent outbreak at a Louisiana center triggered public health protections, but some immigration lawyers are crying foul.
Cuarentena por paperas en Louisiana puede violar los derechos de inmigrantes detenidos
Un brote de paperas y una cuarentena en el Centro de Procesamiento de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Pine Prairie, en Louisiana, impidió que los inmigrantes obtuvieran recursos legales, incluidos sus representantes legales.
