012220 health care costs

High-Deductible Plans Jeopardize Financial Health Of Patients And Rural Hospitals
By Markian Hawryluk Small hospitals and patients in rural areas have been hit hard by the boom in high-deductible health plans. Often when a patient arrives at a rural hospital needing critical care, the person is stabilized and transferred to a larger facility. But bills from the first site of care generally get applied to the patient’s deductible. When patients can’t afford their deductible, the smaller hospital winds up eating the costs.

California AG Details ‘Historic’ Settlement Agreement In Sutter Health Antitrust Case
By Jenny Gold Sutter Health will pay $575 million to settle a high-profile antitrust case filed by California’s attorney general. In addition, it has agreed to end a host of practices that the state alleged unfairly stifled competition.

Readers And Tweeters: More Than Two Sides To Every Story
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Por su prueba de resfriado, la aseguradora pagó $25,865
By Richard Harris, NPR News Alexa Kasdan no quería que sus vacaciones se arruinaran por un simple dolor de garganta. Fue a su doctora y le hicieron un hisopado. ¿Por qué el laboratorio cobro esa cifra ridícula?

Warren y Klobuchar dicen que pueden bajar precios de medicamentos sin ayuda del Congreso
By Emmarie Huetteman Ambas senadoras han patrocinado sus propios proyectos de ley para controlar el aumento vertiginoso de los precios de las drogas recetadas. El Congreso no ha hecho mucho por solucionar este problema.

Listen: How High-Deductible Plans Hurt Rural America
KHN senior correspondent Markian Hawryluk joined Colorado Public Radio’s Avery Lill on “Colorado Matters” to discuss his recent story on how high-deductible health plans are especially hurting the financial health of patients and hospitals in rural America.

Hospital Known For Glamorous Patients Opens New Doors To Its Neediest
By Anna Almendrala and Harriet Blair Rowan For years, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, one of California’s largest nonprofit hospitals, has been spending less on charity care than other nonprofit hospitals in the state. Now it is expanding eligibility for free and discounted medical care.

Hospital Group Mum As Members Pursue Patients With Lawsuits And Debt Collectors
By Jay Hancock The influential trade association has said little over the years as health systems, including those of its own trustees, seized patients’ incomes and assets. Now it is reevaluating.

For Her Head Cold, Insurer Coughed Up $25,865
By Richard Harris, NPR News A New York City woman, worried that her sore throat might be strep, got swabbed at her doctor’s office. The sample was sent to an out-of-network lab for sophisticated DNA tests ― with a price tag similar to a new SUV.

Paying It Forward: ‘Bill Of The Month’ Series, A Vital Toolkit For Patients, Wraps Year 2
By Hannah Norman In our ongoing, crowdsourced investigation with NPR and CBS, we’ve armed future health system pilgrims with the tools they need to avoid exorbitant medical bills and fight back against unfair charges. Here’s a look back at 2019’s stories.

‘An Arm And A Leg’: Tradition Grows Into $1 Million Gift For People In Medical Debt
By Dan Weissmann Every year — for decades — the Buehler family and friends have organized a softball tournament in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area to raise money for someone with big medical expenses. In 2019, the group helped forgive $1 million in medical debt.

Border Fight: Trump’s Plan To Import Cheaper Drugs From Canada Faces Hurdles
By Phil Galewitz The administration’s proposed rule to allow states to bring in prescription medications isn’t expected to provide immediate relief.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: How Do Other Countries Pay For Health Care?
Every country provides and pays for health care differently. Yet surveys show the U.S. health system covers fewer people and costs more than the systems of most other industrialized countries. Are there international systems that the U.S. could emulate or borrow from? On this special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” host Julie Rovner interviews international health experts Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins and Christopher Pope of the Manhattan Institute.

Analysis: In Medical Billing, Fraudulent Charges Weirdly Pass As Legal
By Elisabeth Rosenthal After my husband had a bike accident, we were subjected to medical bills that no one would accept if they had been delivered by a contractor, or a lawyer or an auto mechanic. Such charges are sanctioned by insurers, which generally pay because they have no way to know whether you received a particular item or service — and it’s not worth their time to investigate the millions of medical interactions they write checks for each day.

Watch: Woman Hit With $28K Bill For A Throat Swab
A routine doctor's visit for a sore throat brought more than $28,000 in charges for one New York City woman in our latest "Bill of the Month" installment.

Listen: The Cost Of PrEP, The HIV Prevention Pill
KHN correspondent Shefali Luthra was among the guests on the podcast "Today, Explained" to talk about PrEP.

Loophole Averted After Surprise-Bill Brouhaha In Texas
By Ashley Lopez, KUT The Texas Medical Board bowed out of the rule-making process for a new law protecting consumers from surprise medical bills. Advocates hailed the new rules written by the state insurance regulators.

‘An Arm And A Leg’: Reporter Says ‘Shame’ Spurred Hospital To Cancel Debt For Thousands
By Dan Weissmann Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tenn., sued thousands of patients for unpaid medical bills. Journalist Wendi Thomas wrote about it. Months later, the hospital dropped 6,500 lawsuits.

Warren’s Argument That Millions Can’t Afford Their Rx Drugs Holds Up
By Shefali Luthra ‘Medication insecurity’ is a thing.

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints
By Dan Gorenstein and Leslie Walker Nearly a decade ago, Dr. Jeffrey Brenner and his Camden Coalition appeared to have an answer to remake American health care: Treat the sickest and most expensive patients. But a rigorous study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the approach doesn’t save money. “We built a brilliant intervention to navigate people to nowhere,” Brenner tells the “Tradeoffs” podcast.

For 2020, California Goes Big On Health Care
By Ana B. Ibarra California lawmakers are proposing ambitious health care ideas, from creating a state generic drug label to banning the sale of flavored e-cigarette products. Even though Democrats control state government, they’re likely to face pushback from powerful health care industry groups like hospitals. 

Warren and Klobuchar Say They Can Lower Drug Prices Without Congress’ Help
By Emmarie Huetteman Democratic presidential candidates also returned to now-familiar themes in debating the differences between "Medicare for All" and more incremental reforms.

Sanders Targets Health Industry Profits. Are His Figures Right?
By Shefali Luthra Calculations are complicated, but correct.

Loopholes Limit New California Law To Guard Against Lofty Air Ambulance Bills
By Michelle Andrews A new state law limits what consumers owe if they’re transported by an air ambulance that’s not part of their insurance network to the amount that they’d be charged if they used an in-network provider. But the law won’t protect millions of consumers whose health plans aren’t regulated by the state.

‘An Arm And A Leg’: Watch Your Back — And Your Wallet
By Dan Weissmann Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, author of the book “Crooked,” says chronic low back pain is not a medical condition. Nonetheless, that complaint sends millions of Americans down a path of expensive imaging tests, ongoing therapies and invasive surgery — all with limited effectiveness for many patients. In a conversation with “An Arm and a Leg” podcast host Dan Weissmann, Ramin shares her journey of back pain and recovery.

Team Trump Says Administration’s Action On Health Care ‘Is Working.’ Is It?
By Shefali Luthra The impact of the Trump administration’s health policies is not as clear-cut as the president’s reelection campaign suggests.