Category: Cost and Quality

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don’t have to.

Is ‘Precision Medicine’ The Answer To Cancer? Not Precisely.

Doctors and hospitals love to talk about the patients they’ve saved with precision medicine, and reporters love to write about them. But the people who die still vastly outnumber the rare successes.

Insulin’s High Cost Leads To Deadly Rationing

Alec Raeshawn Smith was 23 when diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and 26 when he died. He couldn’t afford $1,300 per month for his insulin and other diabetes supplies. So he tried to stretch the doses.

Insulin’s High Cost Leads To Deadly Rationing

Alec Raeshawn Smith was 23 when diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and 26 when he died. He couldn’t afford $1,300 per month for his insulin and other diabetes supplies. So he tried to stretch the doses.

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.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Ask Us Anything!

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico answer listeners’ questions about health policy and politics.

For Nursing Home Patients, Breast Cancer Surgery May Do More Harm Than Good

A new study of 6,000 older patients shows little gain from surgeries for breast cancer.

Earwax, Of All Things, Poses Unrecognized Risk In Long-Term Care

Up to two-thirds of residents in nursing homes may have impacted earwax, which can worsen hearing loss, falls and cognitive decline.

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.