Category: Health Care Costs

Why Medicaid Expansion Ballots May Hit a Dead End After a Fleeting Victory in South Dakota

Since 2017, Medicaid expansion has been adopted in seven states where a question was placed directly on the ballot. But campaign leaders say that strategy may not work in Florida and Wyoming, where Republican opposition remains strong.

What Germany’s Coal Miners Can Teach America About Medical Debt

Coal mining ended in Germany’s Saarland a decade ago, but the transition away from coal has been smoother than in West Virginia, which has more medical debt than any state in America.

Hospital Financial Decisions Play a Role in the Critical Shortage of Pediatric Beds for RSV Patients

Yes, the U.S. is experiencing an unusual spate of childhood RSV infections. But the critical shortage of hospital beds to treat ailing children stems from structural problems in pediatric care that have been brewing for years.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: He Made a Video About Health Insurance Terminology That Went Viral

A video producer’s quest for health coverage led him to create a video about insurance terminology. That video now has over a million views. Here’s how he did it.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Congress Races the Clock

Sen. Raphael Warnock’s re-election in Georgia will give Democrats a clear-cut Senate majority for the first time in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, the current Congress has only days left to tackle major unfinished business on the health agenda, including fending off scheduled pay cuts for doctors and other health providers in the Medicare program. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

Paxlovid Has Been Free So Far. Next Year, Sticker Shock Awaits.

The government soon will stop paying for the covid drug that has proved to be the most effective at keeping patients alive and out of the hospital.

Employers Use Patient Assistance Programs to Offset Their Own Costs

Some insurers and employers are tapping into assistance programs meant for individual patients. The concern: Some costly drugs could be harder for patients to access.

Employers Use Patient Assistance Programs to Offset Their Own Costs

Some insurers and employers are tapping into assistance programs meant for individual patients. The concern: Some costly drugs could be harder for patients to access.

The Business of Clinical Trials Is Booming. Private Equity Has Taken Notice.

Private equity-backed Headlands Research heralded its covid-19 vaccine trials as a chance to boost participation among diverse populations, then it shuttered multiple sites that conducted them.

The Disability Tax: Medical Bills Remain Inaccessible for Many Blind Americans

Health insurers and health care systems across the country are violating disability rights laws by sending medical bills that blind and visually impaired people cannot read, a KHN investigation has found. By hindering the ability of blind Americans to know what they owe, some bills get sent to debt collections.