In a recent study of patients treated by emergency medical responders in Oregon, black patients were 40 percent less likely to get pain medicine than their white peers. Why?
From Medicare dental coverage to drug prices to fetal tissue research, the panelists answer listeners’ questions. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner.
Many patients face lingering pain and disappointment after undergoing knee replacement surgery, which costs an average $31,000. And doctors are increasingly concerned that the procedure is overused and that its benefits have been oversold.
After a 34-year-old woman suffered a stroke in Kansas, doctors there arranged for her to be transferred to a Boston hospital, via an Angel MedFlight Learjet. The woman and her father believed the cost of the medical flight would be covered by her private insurance. Then they got the bill.
There could be a long legal struggle ahead over the decision by a judge in Texas to invalidate the federal health law. But if his decision stands, it would have long-lasting effects on health care from insurance coverage to Medicare payments to privacy protections.
She took a bad fall on the slopes and her surgeon used a metal plate to put the splintered bones of her leg back together. When that device failed less than four months later, she and her insurer had to pay full price for the replacement plate.
The health care industry adds thousands of jobs to the economy each month. While they aren’t all doctors and nurses, they aren’t all paper pushers either.