The nation’s largest private health system, HCA Healthcare, has faced years of scrutiny over its share of emergency room patients who are admitted to the hospital. And now U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for a federal investigation, prompting an escalating defense by the hospital system, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
A youth mental health crisis and a shortage of therapists and other care providers who take insurance are pushing many families into financial ruin. But it’s rarely acknowledged as medical debt.
Texas is at least the 12th state to settle with St. Louis-based Centene Corp. over allegations that it overcharged Medicaid prescription drug programs.
The Affordable Care Act required that health insurers provide many medical screenings and prevention services at no out-of-pocket cost to health plan members. But insurers and employers may consider adding cost sharing for preventive services now that a federal court ruled the ACA’s mandate is unconstitutional.
The codes used by U.S. medical providers to bill insurers haven’t caught up to the needs of trans patients or even international standards. Consequently, doctors are forced to get creative with what codes they use, or patients spend hours fighting big out-of-pocket bills.
A new California law requires timely follow-up appointments for mental health and addiction patients. But striking workers at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California say patients continue to wait up to two months.
Health insurers and self-insured employer plans are now required to post their negotiated rates for almost every type of medical service. But navigating through the trove of information is no easy task.
State and federal laws require health plans to offer accurate lists of participating doctors and facilities, but consumers still struggle to get timely appointments with providers.
The advocacy group American Commitment said empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices would raid it of billions of dollars. Drug pricing experts say that that’s not the case and that such policies would instead reduce costs for the Medicare program and seniors.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last month that authorizes a statewide Medicaid contract for HMO giant Kaiser Permanente. But details still need to be worked out in a memorandum of understanding.
