Category: Health Care Costs

Is Insulin’s High Cost Keeping Diabetes Patients From Taking Their Medicine?

An estimated 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes and cannot live without insulin. Sen. Kamala Harris’ claim that 1 in 4 diabetes patients cannot afford their insulin is a shockingly high number, so we decided to dig into the sparse data.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.

Newsom: California Leads On Prescription Drugs

  California regularly portrays itself as a national trendsetter on political issues, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is claiming that title on prescription drugs. Newsom has a plan to take on the drug industry, and at an April 17 news conference in Southern California, he declared that two other governors already want to join his effort. […]

Pain Clinics’ Doctors Needlessly Tested Hundreds Of Urine Samples, Court Records Show

Whistleblower lawsuits accuse Tennessee chain of bilking millions from Medicare for unnecessary urine drug tests.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ The Abortion Wars Rage On

Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the latest news about women’s reproductive health policy and the latest skirmish in the debate over “Medicare-for-all”: how hospitals should be paid.

Americans Overwhelmingly Want Federal Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills

Three-quarters of people urge action to keep patients from facing high medical costs when their insurance doesn’t cover the care, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

Sparse Treatment Options Complicate Cancer Care For Immigrants In South Texas

When an undocumented immigrant in a Texas border county gets a cancer diagnosis, it can be a death sentence because of a lack of public hospitals.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ You Have Questions, We Have Answers

Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join KHN’s Julie Rovner to answer listener questions about the fate of the Affordable Care Act, “Medicare-for-all“ and how to talk about health care costs. Also, for extra credit, the panelists offer their favorite “extra credit” stories of the week.

Mulvaney: Trump Brought Down Drug Prices For The First Time In 50 Years

It’s “within spitting distance of something that’s true,” said one health economist. But our fact check found it wasn’t quite there.

Watch: Sanders Re-Ups ‘Medicare-For-All,’ Gets More Mileage On Campaign Trail

The plan by Sanders has drawn a lot of attention on the campaign trail and Capitol Hill.