Category: Insurance

A Jolt To The Jugular! You’re Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack

A Texas teacher, 44, faces a “balance bill” of almost twice his annual salary for a heart attack he never expected to have.

A Jolt To The Jugular! You’re Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack

A Texas teacher, 44, faces a “balance bill” of almost twice his annual salary for a heart attack he never expected to have.

Readers And Tweeters Revisit Surgery Centers, Think Twice About Single-Payer

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Opioids, EpiPens And Health Funding

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico discuss Senate action on health funding and opioid legislation, the state of the individual insurance market and consternation over expiration dates on EpiPens, the self-injected allergy remedy. Also, could an otter with asthma signal a potential public health crisis?

A Black Eye For Blue Shield: Consumers Lash Out Over Coverage Lapses

The state’s third-largest insurer faces anger from customers in the individual market who unexpectedly lost their insurance despite paying premiums faithfully. In its recently filed lawsuit, the company blamed a contractor for “egregious” billing problems.

States Leverage Federal Funds To Help Insurers Lower Premiums

Even as it chips away at Obamacare, the Trump administration is solidly behind state-based initiatives to cover high-cost patients, known as “reinsurance” programs. It approved two more last week. [ED NOTE: JULY 30-31]

Feds Urge States To Encourage Cheaper Plans Off The Exchanges

Many insurers added surcharges to policies they sold to individuals last year to make up for a cut in federal funding. Now, federal officials suggest that states encourage insurers to sell policies without those surcharges outside of the marketplace to help people who don’t get a premium subsidy.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Coming Soon: ‘Long-Term Short-Term’ Plans

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner talk about the latest Trump administration efforts to address high drug prices, what’s next for short-term health insurance plans and insider trading charges against a New York GOP congressman.

Once Its Greatest Foes, Doctors Are Embracing Single-Payer

Young physicians are pushing the medical establishment to rethink its long-held opposition. The political fallout could be substantial.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Let’s Talk Politics

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call talk about health care’s emergence as a possible voting issue in the coming midterm elections. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Emmarie Huetteman about July’s “Bill of the Month”: a transgender woman’s “bait-and-switch” $92,000 surgical bill.