Category: Health Care Costs

Armed With Hashtags, These Activists Made Insulin Prices a Presidential Talking Point

Twitter has been a hotbed for the burgeoning insulin access movement and activism surrounding other medical conditions. For people with diabetes, the platform has helped propel concern about insulin prices into policy. Can it continue to win with hashtags?

Watch: In Insurers’ Eyes, Not All Midwives Are Equal

The first installment of InvestigateTV and KHN’s “Costly Care” series explores one California mother’s experience struggling to get reimbursed for midwifery care and the differences between providers that may determine whether insurance covers them.

Special Delivery: Heart-Heavy Health Policy Valentines

KHN shares the cream of the crop of creative valentines about health policy submitted by readers and tweeters. Our favorite is anointed with an original illustration and bragging rights as “the one.”

Your Money or Your Life: Patient on $50,000-a-Week Cancer Drug Fears Leaving Behind Huge Medical Debt

When Medicare stops paying for a pricey drug that prolongs life, an Ohio man considers giving up treatment to spare his family enormous debt.

Montana’s Tax-Exempt Hospitals Oppose Increased Oversight by State Officials

As Montana officials seek to make nonprofit hospitals prove the benefits they provide the community justify their tax exemptions, industry leaders propose their own changes — which state officials say would further limit the state’s authority.

Doctors Are Disappearing From Emergency Rooms as Hospitals Look to Cut Costs

As a money-saving strategy, emergency rooms are turning to nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other staffers who earn far less than physicians.

Era of ‘Free’ Covid Vaccines, Test Kits, and Treatments Is Ending. Who Will Pay the Tab Now?

Insurers, employers, and taxpayers will all be affected as drug manufacturers move these products to the commercial market.

Community Resurrects Colorado Birth Center Closed by Private Equity Firm

A private equity firm bought a birth center and then shut it down. The community brought it back as a nonprofit.

Health Policies Were a Prominent Theme in Biden’s State of the Union Speech

Our partners at PolitiFact fact-checked a range of President Joe Biden’s statements, including key health-related comments.

‘We Ain’t Gonna Get It’: Why Bernie Sanders Says His ‘Medicare for All’ Dream Must Wait

As he takes the reins of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, the independent from Vermont and implacable champion of “Medicare for All” maps out his strategy for negotiating with Republicans — and Big Pharma.