His Anesthesia Provider Billed Medicare Late. He Got Sent to Collections for the $3,000 Tab.
By Phil Galewitz
July 28, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Medicare was supposed to cover the entire cost of his procedure. But after the anesthesia provider failed to file its claims in a timely manner, it billed the patient instead.
‘Worse Than People Can Imagine’: Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Breeds Chaos in States
By Phil Galewitz Katheryn Houghton Brett Kelman Samantha Liss
November 2, 2023
KFF Health News Original
As Medicaid programs across the nation review enrollees’ status in the wake of the pandemic, patients struggle to navigate the upheaval.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A Big Week for Biden
August 11, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Congress is leaving for its annual summer break having accomplished far more than many expected, including, barring unforeseen snags, a bill to address the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries and extend the enhanced subsidies for insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the abortion issue continues to roil the nation as Indiana becomes the first state to ban the procedure in almost all cases since the Supreme Court overruled the constitutional right to abortion in June. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
‘I Am Just Waiting to Die’: Social Security Clawbacks Drive Some Into Homelessness
By Fred Clasen-Kelly
December 20, 2023
KFF Health News Original
The Social Security Administration is reclaiming billions of dollars in alleged overpayments from some of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable, leaving some people homeless or struggling to stay in housing, beneficiaries and advocates say.
Beneficiarios de Medi-Cal: cómo verificar si eres elegible
By Bernard J. Wolfson
May 8, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Medi-Cal, la versión de Medicaid en California, puso en marcha una iniciativa de 14 meses para reexaminar la elegibilidad de sus casi 15.8 millones de miembros.
Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions
By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio
November 4, 2022
KFF Health News Original
The nation’s largest private health system, HCA Healthcare, has faced years of scrutiny over its share of emergency room patients who are admitted to the hospital. And now U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for a federal investigation, prompting an escalating defense by the hospital system, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Social Media Is Fueling Enthusiasm for New Weight Loss Drugs. Are Regulators Watching?
By Darius Tahir Hannah Norman
April 18, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Online platforms are overflowing with testimonials for GLP-1s. The drugs show promise for inducing weight loss, but many aren’t FDA-approved for that use.
A Baby Spent 36 Days in an In-Network NICU. Why Did the Hospital Next Door Send a Bill?
By Harris Meyer
January 30, 2023
KFF Health News Original
A baby spent more than a month in a Chicago NICU. A big bill revealed she was treated by out-of-network doctors from the children’s hospital next door. Her parents were charged despite a state law protecting patients from such out-of-network billing — and sent to collections when they didn’t pay up.
Community Workers Fan Out to Persuade Immigrant Seniors to Get Covered
By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report
February 28, 2023
KFF Health News Original
California has enrolled into Medi-Cal more than 300,000 older immigrant adults lacking legal residency since May, but the state doesn’t know how many more might be eligible. Community workers are now searching for them.
Doctors Abandon a Diagnosis Used to Justify Police Custody Deaths. It Might Live On, Anyway.
By Markian Hawryluk Renuka Rayasam
October 16, 2023
KFF Health News Original
The American College of Emergency Physicians agreed to withdraw its 2009 white paper on excited delirium, removing the only official medical pillar of support left for the theory that has played a key role in absolving police of culpability for in-custody deaths.
Rural Colorado Tries to Fill Health Worker Gaps With Apprenticeships
By Kate Ruder
November 29, 2022
KFF Health News Original
A Grand Junction program is training and retaining nurse and personal care aides in areas where the aging population is creating a need for them. But challenges remain for these workers.
The Official Who Investigates Suspicious Deaths in Your Town May Be a Doctor — Or Not
By Samantha Young
December 20, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Across the country, there are no consistent requirements for the officials who investigate suspicious and unexpected deaths. Some have no medical training, others are doctors trained in forensic pathology. Washington, California, Illinois, and Georgia are among the states that have recently attempted to make changes — with mixed success.
Medical Debt Sunk Her Credit. New Changes From the Credit Reporting Agencies Won’t Help.
By Aneri Pattani
October 6, 2022
KFF Health News Original
New policies to prevent unpaid medical bills from harming people’s credit scores are on the way. But the concessions made by top credit reporting companies may fall short for those with the largest debt — especially Black Americans in the South.
How Optimism Can Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap
By Phil Galewitz Daniel Chang
November 16, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Low-income residents in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are in a tough spot: They don’t qualify for the subsidies that people with slightly higher incomes get to buy marketplace plans because of a glitch in the federal health law. But a court decision last year makes it easier for them to make good-faith estimates of a pay increase, and there is no financial penalty if they don’t hit that figure.
Falta de doctores y residencias médicas impactan en la salud de las zonas rurales
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
April 11, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Expertos dicen que los factores sistémicos son barreras comunes para establecer y mantener programas de capacitación para médicos en las zonas rurales de Estados Unidos.
Gobernador de California y legisladores demócratas discrepan sobre el uso de miles de millones de dólares en fondos de salud
By Angela Hart
May 30, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Los líderes demócratas dijeron que la táctica de Newsom de retener el dinero para el fondo general es una “estafa”.
Texas, Battling Teen Pregnancy, Recasts Sex Education Standards
By Emmarie Huetteman
September 20, 2022
KFF Health News Original
As Texas adjusts to a near-total abortion ban, Texas schools are redoubling efforts to end teen pregnancies by enacting new standards for sexual health education. Beyond focusing on abstinence, they are teaching middle schoolers about contraceptives and preventing sexually transmitted infections. But parents must opt in for their children to get the lessons.
“Peor de lo que la gente cree”, cambios en Medicaid crean caos en los estados
By Phil Galewitz Katheryn Houghton Brett Kelman Samantha Liss
November 2, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Tanto beneficiarios como defensores de pacientes dicen que los funcionarios de Medicaid enviaron formularios de renovación obligatoria a direcciones viejas, calcularon mal los niveles de ingresos e hicieron malas traducciones de los documentos.
Policies to Roll Back Abortion Rights Will Hit Incarcerated People Particularly Hard
By Carly Graf
August 22, 2022
KFF Health News Original
People in jails and prisons are particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The $18,000 Breast Biopsy: When Having Insurance Costs You a Bundle
By Lauren Sausser
August 23, 2022
KFF Health News Original
An online calculator told a young woman that a procedure to rule out cancer would cost an uninsured person about $1,400. Instead, the hospital initially charged almost $18,000 and, with her high-deductible health insurance, she owed more than $5,000.
