Category: surprise bills

New California Law Offers Fresh Protection From Steep Ambulance Bills

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, prohibits out-of-network ground ambulance operators from billing patients more than they would pay for in-network rides. It also caps how much the uninsured must pay.

She Paid Her Husband’s Hospital Bill. A Year After His Death, They Wanted More Money.

A widow encountered a perplexing reality in medical billing: Providers can come after patients to collect well after a bill has been paid.

An Arm and a Leg: How a Surprise Bill Can Hitch a Ride to the Hospital

The No Surprises Act has helped rein in out-of-network medical bills, but ground ambulances are a costly exception. Hear why this service can still hit patients with big bills and what to do if you get one.

His Anesthesia Provider Billed Medicare Late. He Got Sent to Collections for the $3,000 Tab.

Medicare was supposed to cover the entire cost of his procedure. But after the anesthesia provider failed to file its claims in a timely manner, it billed the patient instead.

Readers and Tweeters Are Horrified by Harm Tied to Dental Device

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

ER’s Error Lands a 4-Year-Old in Collections (For Care He Didn’t Receive)

A Florida woman tried to dispute an emergency room bill, but the hospital and collection agency refused to talk to her — because it was her child’s name on the bill, not hers.

Surprise-Billing Law Loophole: When ‘Out of Network’ Doesn’t Quite Mean Out of Network

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.

Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Update)

Can a medical provider you’ve never heard of send you an outrageous bill? Sure. Can you fight back and win? Yes, sometimes you can. Here’s how to do it.

Readers and Tweeters Diagnose Greed and Chronic Pain Within US Health Care System

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

KHN-NPR’s ‘Bill of the Month’ at 5: A Treasury of Solutions for Confounding Medical Bills

Readers and listeners shared more than 1,000 personal stories of medical billing problems with KHN-NPR’s “Bill of the Month” investigative series this year, helping us illuminate the financial decisions patients are pressed to make in their most vulnerable moments.