The removals, detailed in emails between state and federal health officials, hinged on disagreements over how states could disenroll people during the public health emergency. Consumer advocates fear the alleged violation signals the mess to come on April 1, when the pandemic-era Medicaid coverage mandate ends.
Billing experts and lawmakers are playing catch-up as providers find ways to get around new surprise-billing laws, leaving patients like Danielle Laskey of Washington state with big bills for emergency care.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Nearly half a million Californians without legal residency make too much to qualify for Medicaid yet they can’t afford to buy coverage. A state lawmaker is proposing to open up the state’s health insurance exchange as a first step to providing them affordable insurance.
Patients who depend upon special drugs to treat rare diseases are caught in the crossfire as drugmakers and the FDA battle over regulations that reward companies for developing treatments for relatively small pools of patients.
The first installment of InvestigateTV and KHN’s “Costly Care” series explores one California mother’s experience struggling to get reimbursed for midwifery care and the differences between providers that may determine whether insurance covers them.
Insurers, employers, and taxpayers will all be affected as drug manufacturers move these products to the commercial market.
President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address leaned heavily on health care issues. Biden took a victory lap for recent accomplishments like capping prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare. He also urged Congress to make permanent the boosted premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and he sparred with Republicans on threats to cut Social Security and Medicare. Also this week, both sides in the abortion debate are bracing for a court decision out of Texas that could, at least temporarily, make the abortion pill mifepristone illegal nationwide. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kate Baicker of the University of Chicago about a possible middle ground in the effort to get universal health insurance coverage.
Our partners at PolitiFact fact-checked a range of President Joe Biden’s statements, including key health-related comments.
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.
