Category: Insurance

‘An Arm and a Leg’: She Fights Health Insurers for Fun — And Wins

Law professor Jackie Fox looks at health insurance policies like any other contract, and she has spent 30 years making sound legal arguments to help patients get the care they need.

Post-Pandemic, What’s a Phone Call From Your Physician Worth?

Medicare billing codes for audio-only follow-up check-ins lead to new reimbursement battles.

A Tale of Two Medicaid Expansions: Oklahoma Jumps In, While Missouri Lags

Voters in Missouri and Oklahoma approved Medicaid expansion to begin in 2021. But while Oklahoma has enrolled over 200,000 people so far, Missouri has enrolled fewer than 20,000. Why are two such similar states handling the public insurance rollout so differently?

‘An Arm and a Leg’: How to Avoid the Worst Health Insurance

Listen to a journalist’s first-person horror story on shopping for health insurance — and learn how to avoid the pitfalls.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: The Insurance Warrior’s Battle Plan

Health care — and how much it costs — is scary. But knowledge is power. Take a master class in winning insurance appeals. In the case of Matthew Lientz, taking on his insurance also meant going up against his employer.

Stranded by the Pandemic, He Had Only Travel Insurance. It Left Him With a $38,000 Bill.

Although it’s possible to buy travel insurance that provides some health coverage, the devil is in the fine print. Obama-era laws that prevent refusal of payment for preexisting conditions don’t apply to travel insurance.

Patients Get Stranded Out of Network as Insurer-Hospital Contract Talks Fall Apart

As hospital systems and insurers adjust to the pandemic, their contract negotiations grow increasingly fraught. Contracts for in-network care are ending without a new deal, leaving patients suddenly with out-of-network bills or scrambling to find new in-network providers.

Missouri’s Thin Dental Safety Net Stretched Amid Medicaid Expansion

An estimated 275,000 Missouri adults can get dental insurance now as the state has expanded who is eligible for Medicaid. But with so few dentists participating in the program, the state’s already-backlogged dental clinics are facing a glut of new clients.

Missouri’s Thin Dental Safety Net Stretched Amid Medicaid Expansion

An estimated 275,000 Missouri adults can get dental insurance now as the state has expanded who is eligible for Medicaid. But with so few dentists participating in the program, the state’s already-backlogged dental clinics are facing a glut of new clients.

Your Out-of-Pocket Health Care Costs Need Not Be a Mystery

A new California law requires health insurance companies to notify consumers how much remains on their deductibles and how close they are to their annual out-of-pocket spending limits.