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Era of ‘Free’ Covid Vaccines, Test Kits, and Treatments Is Ending. Who Will Pay the Tab Now?

By Julie Appleby February 10, 2023 KFF Health News Original

Insurers, employers, and taxpayers will all be affected as drug manufacturers move these products to the commercial market.

ER’s Error Lands a 4-Year-Old in Collections (For Care He Didn’t Receive)

By Daniel Chang March 29, 2023 KFF Health News Original

A Florida woman tried to dispute an emergency room bill, but the hospital and collection agency refused to talk to her — because it was her child’s name on the bill, not hers.

After Tuition, Books, and Room and Board, Colleges’ Rising Health Fees Hit a Nerve

By Phil Galewitz December 19, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Many colleges require students to have health insurance coverage, and the college option can be costly. In addition, some schools mandate that students pay a fee to cover health services on campus.

What Mobile Clinics in Dollar General Parking Lots Say About Health Care in Rural America

By Sarah Jane Tribble October 4, 2023 KFF Health News Original

Dollar General’s pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural America’s primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism.

Olympic Dream Dashed After Bike Crash and Nightmare Medical Bill Over $200K

By Samantha Young July 29, 2021 KFF Health News Original

A bicyclist from California competed in a Pennsylvania race that could have landed him in this month’s Tokyo Olympics. Instead, a crash on the velodrome track landed him in two hospitals where his out-of-state, out-of-network surgeries garnered huge bills.

How to Get Rid of Medical Debt — Or Avoid It in the First Place

By Yuki Noguchi, NPR News July 1, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Medical bills can add stress to the already stressful experience of dealing with a medical crisis. And if you can’t pay those bills, they can linger, wreaking havoc on your financial goals and credit. Here’s how to protect yourself.

An $80,000 Tab for Newborns Lays Out a Loophole in the New Law to Curb Surprise Bills

By Jay Hancock Photos by Heidi de Marco February 23, 2022 KFF Health News Original

The insurance company said that the birth of the Bull family’s twins was not an emergency and that NICU care was “not medically necessary.” The family’s experience with a huge bill sent to collections happened in 2020, but it exposes a hole in the new No Surprises law that took effect Jan. 1.

Mental Health Therapists Seek Exemption From Part of Law to Ban Surprise Billing

By Julie Appleby February 3, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Some practitioners object to the way upfront cost estimates are designed, saying they could affect access to care and are burdensome. Other experts disagree.

What the Federal ‘No Surprises Act’ Means in California

By Bernard J. Wolfson January 26, 2022 KFF Health News Original

The new federal law will provide protection against surprise medical bills for between 6 million and 7 million Californians who are not covered under state law.

The Ambulance Chased One Patient Into Collections

By Bram Sable-Smith July 27, 2022 KFF Health News Original

After a car wreck, three siblings were transported to the same hospital by ambulances from three separate districts. The sibling with the most minor injuries got the biggest bill.

States Step In as Telehealth and Clinic Patients Get Blindsided by Hospital Fees

By Markian Hawryluk April 3, 2023 KFF Health News Original

At least eight states have implemented or are considering limits on what patients can be billed for the use of a hospital’s facilities even without having stepped foot in the building.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Underinsured Is the New Uninsured

September 14, 2023 Podcast

The percentage of working-age adults with health insurance went up and the uninsured rate dropped last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. There isn’t much suspense about which way the uninsured rate is now trending, as states continue efforts to strip ineligible beneficiaries from their Medicaid rolls. But is the focus on the uninsured obscuring the struggles of the underinsured? Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KFF Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these issues and more.

California Author Uses Dark Humor — And a Bear — To Highlight Flawed Health System

By Rachel Scheier January 31, 2023 KFF Health News Original

A new graphic novel by Kathleen Founds follows an angst-ridden bear on his quest for mental health treatment. Founds drew on her own experience with bipolar disorder.

Listen: How the New ‘No Surprises’ Law Tackles Unexpected Medical Bills

January 5, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Years in the making, a new federal law against surprise medical bills took effect Jan. 1.

Health Insurance Price Data: It’s Out There, but It’s Not for the Faint of Heart

By Julie Appleby July 27, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Health insurers and self-insured employer plans are now required to post their negotiated rates for almost every type of medical service. But navigating through the trove of information is no easy task.

Betting on ‘Golden Age’ of Colonoscopies, Private Equity Invests in Gastro Docs

By Emily Pisacreta and Emmarie Huetteman May 27, 2022 KFF Health News Original

An aging population in need of regular cancer screenings has driven private equity companies, seeking profits, to invest in many gastroenterology practices and set up aggressive billing practices. Steep prices on routine tests are one consequence for patients.

Shattered Dreams and Bills in the Millions: Losing a Baby in America

By Lauren Weber September 23, 2022 KFF Health News Original

On top of fearing for their children’s lives, new parents of very fragile, very sick infants can face exorbitant hospital bills — even if they have insurance. Medical bills don’t go away if a child dies.

ER Visit Times Stretch Longer As Hospitals Face Staffing Crunch

September 15, 2023 Morning Briefing

Axios reports that hospitals in Washington, D.C., logged the longest median ER visit times in 2022, clocking in at 5 hours and 29 minutes. Other health care industry news is on union membership, rural nursing home staffing, out-of-network ambulance claims, and more.

A Billing Expert Saved Big After Finding an Incorrect Charge in Her Husband’s ER Bill

By Bram Sable-Smith October 25, 2022 KFF Health News Original

A medical billing specialist investigated her husband’s ER bill. Her sleuthing took over a year but knocked thousands of dollars off the hospital’s charges — and provides a playbook for other consumers.

When Hospitals Ditch Medicare Advantage Plans, Thousands of Members Get To Leave, Too

By Susan Jaffe April 28, 2025 KFF Health News Original

Breakups between health providers and Advantage plans are increasingly common. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has allowed whole groups of patients to leave their plans.

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