Category: Health Industry

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All About ‘Medicare for All’

Need to know more about “Medicare for All?” It’s a top issue in the Democratic presidential primary campaign. This holiday week, we are rerunning our explainer on the subject. But first, KHN’s “What the Health?” host Julie Rovner talks to KHN’s Shefali Luthra about how health played out in the first Democratic candidate debates last week.

Have Cancer, Must Travel: Patients Left In Lurch After Hospital Closes

As the rural town of Fort Scott, Kan., grapples with the closure of its hospital, cancer patients face new challenges as they try to continue their treatments in different locations.

Pelosi Aims For Feds To Negotiate Drug Prices, Even For Private Insurers

A draft plan spearheaded by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would allow the federal government for the first time to negotiate prices for 250 drugs for Medicare and apply those prices to all payers, including employers and insurers.

Delaney’s Debate Claim That ‘Medicare For All’ Will Shutter Hospitals Goes Overboard

At the first Democratic presidential primary debate, former U.S. lawmaker John Delaney outlined his opposition to “Medicare for All” by claiming it would prove fatal for hospitals. It’s really not that simple.

KHN’s ‘What The Health’: Dems Debate Health Care

Democratic presidential candidates disagreed on how to fix health care in their first debate Wednesday, although they all called for boosting insurance coverage and lowering prices. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is keeping health care in the news, too, with a new plan to make medical prices more available to the public. Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus the latest in news about bipartisan progress on catch-all legislation to address “surprise” medical bills. Plus, Rovner interviews NPR’s Jon Hamilton about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment.

Senate Panel Makes Surprisingly Fast Work Of ‘Surprise Medical Bills’ Package

The measure also includes a range of provisions designed to address health care costs.

Opioid Operators: How Surgeons Ply Patients With Painkillers

Even as awareness of the opioid crisis grew, prescribing habits of surgeons changed very little from 2011 to 2016, found a data analysis by Kaiser Health News and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Our team looked at surgeons whose Medicare patients filled a prescription for opioids within a week of having one of seven […]

Opioid Operators: How Surgeons Ply Patients With Painkillers

Even as awareness of the opioid crisis grew, prescribing habits of surgeons changed very little from 2011 to 2016, found a data analysis by Kaiser Health News and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Our team looked at surgeons whose Medicare patients filled a prescription for opioids within a week of having one of seven […]

Sen. Alexander Details His Plan To Fix Surprise Medical Bills

A legislative package from Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would handle surprise medical bills by having insurers pay them the “median in-network rate,” meaning the rate would be similar to what the plan charges other doctors in the area for the same procedure.

Senators Agree Surprise Medical Bills Must Go. But How?

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled next week to mark up a massive legislative package on curbing health costs, but some of the details remain unresolved, including what formula to use to pay doctors and hospitals involved in surprise medical bills.