Sara McLin’s son burned his hand on a stove. She took him to an in-network emergency room near their home in Florida which did not treat him. But they sent bills anyway—to her son, so she can't dispute them.
KFF Health News
Few things about the American health care system infuriate patients and doctors more than prior authorization, a common tool whose use by insurers has exploded in recent years.
Governor Gavin Newsom has followed through on a promise to bypass price-gouging drug companies and begin direct manufacturing of low-cost insulin for California diabetes patients.
A cadre of newcomers and direct government competition aims to break open the insulin market that three companies—Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk—have long dominated with their escalating prices.
The Montana state health department denied a public records request for all investigations into Montana State Hospital patient deaths, injuries, and assaults since losing federal certification.
Paul Davis has “one of the rarest tumors on the planet.” The rare eye cancer requires $50,000-a-week drug treatments to keep Davis alive, and he worries saddling his family with crushing medical debt when he’s gone.
Diabetes activists have been wary of Diabetics groups that receive money from drug makers. Using social media and focusing messages with hashtags became an effective strategy.
Doctors are increasingly being replaced by nurse practitioners and physician assistants who can perform many of the same duties and generate much of the same revenue for less than half of the pay.
People generally think of bats as creepy. But they can be a key in understanding how the destruction and alteration of nature can increase the likelihood of deadly pathogens spilling over from wild animals to humans.
In a dizzying display of twisted "logic," the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are not requiring repayments of funds stolen through rampant overbilling by Medicare Advantage plans.
Profiteering Nursing Home Owners Grabbed Cash During the Pandemic While Their Residents Deteriorated
Owners of multiple nursing homes operated as virtual slumlords, neglecting buildings, staffing and patient care all the while paying themselves and their families lavishly.
There are three words that don't belong together: "health," "care," "Investors." Yet a San Francisco conference just showcased worries in this "industry" that they may not be able to keep ripping off the public as much as they desire.
California follows other states in going after insulin companies and pharmaceutical middlemen, but California is taking an aggressive approach by charging the companies with violating the state’s Unfair Competition Law.
Critics warn that profit-hungry private equity ownership could result in higher prices for patients and insurers, more unnecessary surgery, and less access to care for patients on Medicaid or those who are uninsured or underinsured.
This year healthcare providers will be required to provide predictions of costs finally giving patients more freedom to comparison-shop and possibly help slow rising medical costs.
In recent years, hospitals of every stripe have opened obstetrics emergency departments, or OBEDs, which means healthy patients get bills for emergency care they didn’t know they got.