Category: Bill Of The Month

Year One Of KHN’s ‘Bill Of The Month’: A Kaleidoscope Of Financial Challenges

A crowdsourced investigation in which we dissect, investigate and explain medical bills you send us.

After Her Skiing Accident, An Uphill Battle Over Snowballing Bills

She took a bad fall on the slopes and her surgeon used a metal plate to put the splintered bones of her leg back together. When that device failed less than four months later, she and her insurer had to pay full price for the replacement plate.

Chronically Ill, Traumatically Billed: The $123,000 Medicine For MS

Shereese Hickson’s doctor wanted her to try the infusion drug Ocrevus for her multiple sclerosis. Even though Hickson is trained as a medical billing coder, she was shocked to see two doses of the drug priced at $123,019, with her share set at $3,620.

That’s A Lot Of Scratch: The $48,329 Allergy Test

A California college professor never imagined that trying to figure out what was causing her rash could add up to such a huge bill.

Will Congress Bring Sky-High Air Ambulance Bills Down To Earth?

Medevac helicopter companies are on the radar of an FAA funding bill likely to pass the House and Senate this week.

Taken For A Ride: After ATV Crash, Doctor Gets $56,603 Bill For Air Ambulance Trip

After an accident in an all-terrain vehicle crushed a doctor’s left arm, he was whisked by air ambulance to the closest trauma center for specialized care. Soon he was fighting over the $56,603 bill.

The $109K Heart Attack Bill Is Down To $332. What About Other Surprise Bills?

“I don’t feel any consumer should have to go through this,” says Drew Calver, who faced a life-changing surprise bill from an Austin hospital after a heart attack last year. After attention as a “Bill of the Month” patient, he paid the hospital $332. But he worries about other patients with surprise bills.

A Jolt To The Jugular! You’re Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack

A Texas teacher, 44, faces a “balance bill” of almost twice his annual salary for a heart attack he never expected to have.

A Jolt To The Jugular! You’re Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack

A Texas teacher, 44, faces a “balance bill” of almost twice his annual salary for a heart attack he never expected to have.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Let’s Talk Politics

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call talk about health care’s emergence as a possible voting issue in the coming midterm elections. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Emmarie Huetteman about July’s “Bill of the Month”: a transgender woman’s “bait-and-switch” $92,000 surgical bill.