“Obstetrical emergency departments” are a new feature in some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask the parents of Baby Gus.
Category: Health Care Costs
Analysis: A Procedure That Cost $1,775 in New York Was $350 in Maryland. Here’s Why.
The state’s unique health system controls what hospitals can charge for services.
Direct Primary Care, With a Touch of Robin Hood
Some doctors, sick of mainstream health care’s red tape, are finding refuge in practices that combine concierge medicine with charity care.
3 States Limit Nursing Home Profits in Bid to Improve Care
Following the devastating impact of covid-19 on nursing homes, state lawmakers want to be sure that government and private payments primarily go to improve care and staffing.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: Hello? We Spend 12 Million Hours a Week on the Phone With Insurers
In this episode, we get our bearings on self-funded insurance plans, and how they affect the average — sometimes burned-out — American worker trying to get answers about insurance.
How to Crush Medical Debt: 5 Tips for Using Hospital Charity Care
The law says nonprofit hospitals are supposed to offer low-income patients financial assistance. But the average person doesn’t know about it. Here’s how to get help.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Politics of Vaccine Mandates
Like almost everything else associated with the covid-19 pandemic, partisans are taking sides over whether vaccines should be mandated. Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill are still struggling to find compromise in their effort to expand health insurance and other social programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jen Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews best-selling author Beth Macy about her book “Dopesick,” and the new Hulu miniseries based on it.
Health Industry Wields Power in California’s High-Stakes Battle to Lower Health Care Costs
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to regulate out-of-control health care spending in California. The effort is being shaped by the very health industry players that would be regulated.
The Public Backs Medicare Rx Price Negotiation Even After Hearing Both Sides’ Views
But Americans generally have little confidence that the White House or Congress will recommend the right thing, a new poll shows.
‘An Arm and a Leg’: How One State Protects Patients From Hospital Lawsuits
In Maryland, it’s now illegal for a hospital to sue a patient who qualifies for charity care. But in many other states, that’s still a thing.
