Out for Blood? For Routine Lab Work, the Hospital Billed Her $2,400
Convenient as it may be, beware of getting your blood drawn at a hospital. The cost could be much higher than at an independent lab, and your insurance might not cover it all.
Insurers
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Quick Genetic Test Offers Hope for Sick, Undiagnosed Kids. But Few Insurers Offer to Pay.
A new, rapid genetic test shows promise in increasing diagnoses and improving treatment for some children with rare genetic conditions. Many insurers won鈥檛 cover it, but Florida's Medicaid program is among those that see benefits 鈥 and, potentially, savings.
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Journalists Discuss Abortion Lawsuits and the Pros and Cons of Health Care Sharing Plans
51视频 Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
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Patients Squeezed in Fight Over Who Gets to Bill for Pricey Infusion Drugs
To drive down costs, insurers are bypassing hospital system pharmacies and delivering high-priced infusion drugs, including some used in chemotherapy, via third-party pharmacies. Smarting from losing out on billing for those drugs, hospitals and clinics are trying to convince states to limit this practice, known as "white bagging."
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At Least 1.7M Americans Use Health Sharing Arrangements, Despite Lack of Protections
A new report boosts the estimated number of people enrolled in plans whose members 鈥 usually brought together by shared religious beliefs 鈥 pay one another鈥檚 health costs.
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Health Care Coalition Jockeys Over Medi-Cal Spending, Eyes Ballot Initiative
California Healthline has learned that a coalition of doctors, hospitals, insurers, and community clinics want to lock in a tax on health insurance companies to draw in extra Medicaid funding. It also wants to make the tax permanent.
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young -
Judge鈥檚 Decision Would Make Some No-Cost Cancer Screenings a Thing of the Past
A U.S. District Court ruling overturned the section of the Affordable Care Act that makes preventive health services 鈥 from colonoscopies to diabetes screenings and more 鈥 available at no cost to consumers.
By Julie Appleby and Michelle Andrews Judging the Abortion Pill
Episode 289Any day now a conservative federal judge in Texas could upend the national abortion debate by requiring the FDA to rescind its approval of mifepristone, a drug approved in the U.S. more than 20 years ago that is now used in more than half of abortions nationwide. Meanwhile, a controversial study on masks gets a clarification, although it may be too late to change the public impression of what it found. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for 鈥渆xtra credit,鈥 the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
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Medicaid Health Plans Try to Protect Members 鈥 And Profits 鈥 During Unwinding
States are turning to the big health insurance companies to keep Medicaid enrollees insured once pandemic protections end in April. The insurers鈥 motive: profits.
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Why Does Insulin Cost So Much? Big Pharma Isn鈥檛 the Only Player Driving Prices
Big Pharma may be moving on from squeezing diabetes patients on insulin prices, but it鈥檚 the arbitrators that jack up prices for those who can least afford them.
By Arthur Allen -
Government Lets Health Plans That Ripped Off Medicare Keep the Money
In a surprise decision, U.S. officials yield to insurance industry demands 鈥 at least for now.
By Fred Schulte -
鈥楢n Arm and a Leg鈥: Getting Insurance to Pay for Oral Surgery Is Like Pulling Teeth
A car crash left a woman in need of oral surgery, but her health insurance wouldn鈥檛 cover it. Her ongoing fight shows podcast host Dan Weissmann the weird way insurance treats teeth and reveals a big problem in the Obamacare marketplace.
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Employers Use Patient Assistance Programs to Offset Their Own Costs
Some insurers and employers are tapping into assistance programs meant for individual patients. The concern: Some costly drugs could be harder for patients to access.
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The Disability Tax: Medical Bills Remain Inaccessible for Many Blind Americans
Health insurers and health care systems across the country are violating disability rights laws by sending medical bills that blind and visually impaired people cannot read, a KHN investigation has found. By hindering the ability of blind Americans to know what they owe, some bills get sent to debt collections.
By Lauren Weber and Hannah Recht -
Audits 鈥 Hidden Until Now 鈥 Reveal Millions in Medicare Advantage Overcharges
Taxpayers had to foot the bills for care that should have cost far less, according to records released after KHN filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The government may seek to recover up to $650 million as a result.
By Fred Schulte and Holly K. Hacker -
Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions
The nation鈥檚 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.
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Kids鈥 Mental Health Care Leaves Parents in Debt and in the Shadows
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.
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Centene to Pay $166 Million to Texas in Medicaid Drug Pricing Settlement
Texas is at least the 12th state to settle with St. Louis-based Centene Corp. over allegations that it overcharged Medicaid prescription drug programs.
By Andy Miller and Samantha Young -
Court Ruling May Spur Competitive Health Plans to Bring Back Copays for Preventive Services
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鈥檚 mandate is unconstitutional.
By Harris Meyer -
Medical Coding Creates Barriers to Care for Transgender Patients
The codes used by U.S. medical providers to bill insurers haven鈥檛 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.