Category: Health Care Costs

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.

Decisions by CVS and Optum Panicked Thousands of Their Sickest Patients

Pharmacy closures by two of the biggest home infusion companies point to grave shortages and dangers for patients who require IV nutrition to survive.

Nursing Home Owners Drained Cash During Pandemic While Residents Deteriorated

As the federal government debates whether to require higher staffing levels at nursing homes, financial records show owners routinely push profits to sister companies while residents are neglected. “A dog would get better care than he did,” one resident’s wife said.

Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Update)

Can a medical provider you’ve never heard of send you an outrageous bill? Sure. Can you fight back and win? Yes, sometimes you can. Here’s how to do it.

A Baby Spent 36 Days in an In-Network NICU. Why Did the Hospital Next Door Send a Bill?

A baby spent more than a month in a Chicago NICU. A big bill revealed she was treated by out-of-network doctors from the children’s hospital next door. Her parents were charged despite a state law protecting patients from such out-of-network billing — and sent to collections when they didn’t pay up.

Readers and Tweeters Diagnose Greed and Chronic Pain Within US Health Care System

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Numbers Don’t Lie. Biden Kept His Promise on Improving Obamacare.

KHN has teamed up with our partners at PolitiFact to monitor 100 key promises made by Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign — including those surrounding the Affordable Care Act.