On Their Own, Self-Employed Search For Health Care
Cindy Richards and her husband Scott Fisher at their home in Oak Park, Ill. Richards is a freelance writer and editor who buys health insurance to cover herself and her family.
All Coverage
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‘Facility Fees’ Are Surprise Cost For Many Patients
Facility fees, charged to patients who get treatment in hospital-owned outpatient clinics, are used defray to hospital overhead, pay salaries and meet stringent standards, hospital officials say. Critics say the fees are a way to increase the cost of care when patients can least afford it.
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Medicaid Explained
As a part of our “Are You Covered?” series, KHN and NPR examine how a health overhaul would affect Medicaid recipients.
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For One Senior, Medicaid Provides Model Care
When Gracie Scarrow, 94, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure she didn’t have the money to pay for the care she needed. With her daughter Lela’s help, Gracie turned to Medicaid. The program pays for her nursing home, and they couldn’t be happier with the care.
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Transcript: Health On The Hill – How Will Senate Committees Combine Health Bills?
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin discuss what might happen in the Senate Finance Committee this week and how its health overhaul bill might be combined with the more liberal bill from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
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Health On The Hill – Senate Finance Committee To Vote On Health Bill
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin discuss the Senate Finance Committee’s vote later this week on a health overhaul bill and how that bill might be melded with the more liberal bill from the Senate health committee.
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Opinion Column
To Be Effective, Exchanges Need Bargaining Power
Exchange design doesn’t get the attention of controversies like the public option, abortion, or supposed death panels. In the long run, though, it could be far more decisive in whether reform works.
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Uninsured By Choice: A ‘Calculated Risk’
Lyn Robinson owns Zenith Holland Gardens, a wholesale plant nursery. She chooses not to buy insurance and says she likes deciding where and when to spend her medical dollars. Part of our series “Are You Covered?” co-produced with NPR.
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Voluntarily Uninsured
Fifty-two year old Lyn Robinson says she works out, takes good care of herself and doesn’t think she needs to buy health insurance.
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Will Insurers Balk At Weakening of Individual Insurance Mandate?
The Senate Finance Committee Thursday agreed to delay the penalties for people who don’t comply with a requirement to have health insurance. Some lawmakers want no penalties at all. But insurers worry that weakening the mandate will mean people will delay getting coverage, it would be more difficult to keep costs down.
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Grady’s Challenges Highlight Problems of Safety-Net Hospitals
The cornerstone of Atlanta medical care strives to turn a corner, but fight over dialysis center underscores difficulties of meeting increasing demands in a poor economy.
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Health Care Bill or No, Medicare Advantage Premiums Will Rise
Miami seniors will still pay nothing for coverage; rates to rise in New York and Philadelphia.
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Frist Predicts Congress Will Approve a $1 Trillion Health Care Bill That Won’t “Bend The Cost Curve”
KHN’s Eric Pianin talks with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., about his new book, “A Heart to Serve, The Passion to Bring Health, Hope, and Healing.”
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Study: Young Docs Stumped By Health Care System, Too
Fewer than half of all graduating medical students say they have a good sense of how to navigate health care systems or the economics of practicing medicine, according to a new study.
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Opinion Column
The Public Option Contradiction
Pursuing sensible change requires a clear understanding of what’s driving the status quo.
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Analysis: Can What Killed California Health Reform Strike Again?
In 2007, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed covering the state’s uninsured with a plan similar to the one Congress is now considering. By January 2008, his plan was killed by a state Senate committee. While Obama’s prospects remain stronger than Schwarzenegger’s ever were, the current effort is hitting roadblocks reminiscent of the California experience.
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Senate Health Overhaul Plan Offers Employers Penalties, Assistance
For employers, the Senate Finance Committee health bill says size matters. Small businesses that don’t offer coverage would get tax credits while the bigger ones could face fines.
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Baucus Must Strike A Balance With Three Factions To Pass His Bill
The Finance Committee today thwarted efforts by liberal Democrats to include a government-run health insurance option in major health care legislation, as the Senate appears to be dividing into three important camps: those who are solidly behind Chairman Max Baucus, those reluctantly leaning in his direction and a handful of wild cards who will wield great influence. UPDATED
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Employer Provided Private Insurance Video: Dave Koenig
Dave Koenig gets private insurance through his employer and couldn’t be happier. As a conservative, he thinks private health care is the way to go, but he supports some changes to the insurance industry to protect patients from losing their coverage.
