Bill of the Month
ϳԹ News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, examines and decodes your perplexing medical bills.
Investigations
Priced Out
America’s health insurance crisis
Deadly Denials
Prior authorization has become a confusing maze that denies or delays care, burdens physicians with paperwork, and perpetuates racial disparities.
141 - 160 of 417 Results
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Watch: As Opioid Settlement Money Starts to Flow, States and Local Officials Debate How to Use It
PBS NewsHour featured ϳԹ News’ Aneri Pattani as it reported on how this debate is playing out in North Carolina and Ohio.
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What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt
Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, ϳԹ News is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
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Repeating History: California County Plugs Budget Gap With Opioid Settlement Cash
State attorneys general vowed that opioid settlement funds — unlike the tobacco settlement of the 1990s — would go toward tackling the underlying crisis. But in Mendocino County, officials have found a way to use some of its share to help fill a budget shortfall — a throwback to what agreement architects hoped to avoid.
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Sen. Sanders Says Millions of People Can’t Find a Doctor. He’s Mostly Right.
The Vermont senator sees beefing up the primary care workforce as a critical step in expanding Americans’ access to health care.
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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.
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Perspective
Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors and Hospitals Ignore This at Their Peril.
Doctors and hospitals hold an exalted position in American life, retaining public confidence even as other institutions such as government, law enforcement, and the media are losing people’s trust. But with health care debt out of hand, medical providers risk their good standing.
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A Mom Owed Nearly $102,000 for Hospital Care. Her State Attorney General Said to Pay Up.
As politicians bash privately run hospitals for their aggressive debt collection tactics, consumer advocates say one North Carolina family’s six-figure medical bill is an example of how state attorneys general and state-operated hospitals also can harm patients financially.
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Meet the People Deciding How to Spend $50 Billion in Opioid Settlement Cash
As settlement dollars land at the state level, state councils wield significant power in determining how the windfall gets spent. And, though they will likely include the most knowledgeable voices on addiction, these panels also face concerns about conflicts of interest and other issues.
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Will the Doctor See You Now? The Health System’s Changing Landscape
The “front door” to the health system is changing, under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations.
By Julie Appleby and Michelle Andrews -
The Hospital Bills Didn’t Find Her, but a Lawsuit Did — Plus Interest
Recovering from emergency gallbladder surgery, a Tennessee woman said she spent months without a permanent mailing address and never got a bill. She was sued by the health system two years later.
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‘We’re Not Doing That’: Why a Black Couple Wouldn’t Crowdfund to Pay Off Medical Debts
Kristie Fields, a cancer patient in Virginia, was urged to go public to seek financial help. She worried about feeding hurtful stereotypes.
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What You Need to Know About the Opioid Settlement Funds
States and localities are receiving more than $54 billion over nearly two decades.
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Opioid Settlement Payouts to Localities Made Public for First Time
ϳԹ News obtained documents showing the exact dollar amounts — down to the cent — that local governments have been allocated in 2022 and 2023 to battle the ongoing opioid crisis.
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Find Out How Much Opioid Settlement Cash Your Locality Received
You can use documents obtained by ϳԹ News to see the exact dollar amounts that local governments in your state have been allocated in 2022 and 2023.
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International Rights Group Calls Out US for Allowing Hospitals to Push Millions Into Debt
In a new report, Human Rights Watch urges stronger federal and state action to hold hospitals to account for a medical debt crisis that now burdens more than 100 million Americans.
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Burnout Threatens Primary Care Workforce and Doctors’ Mental Health
Burnout is a widespread problem in the health care industry. Although the pandemic made things worse, burnout among doctors is a long-standing concern that health systems have become more focused on as they try to stop doctors from quitting or retiring early.
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As Fewer MDs Practice Rural Primary Care, a Different Type of Doctor Helps Take Up the Slack
The number of DOs is surging, and more than half of them practice in primary care, including in rural areas hit hard by doctor shortages.
By Tony Leys -
Watch: Payback for the Opioid Crisis: How Did the Sackler Family Skirt Liability?
ϳԹ News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani appeared on PBS NewsHour to discuss the ruling surrounding drugmaker Purdue Pharma's role in the opioid crisis and her reporting into the ongoing distribution of opioid settlement funds.
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As Medicaid Purge Begins, ‘Staggering Numbers’ of Americans Lose Coverage
In what’s known as the Medicaid “unwinding,” states are combing through rolls to decide who stays and who goes. But the overwhelming majority of people who have lost coverage so far were dropped because of technicalities, not because officials determined they are no longer eligible.
By Hannah Recht -
Many People Living in the ‘Diabetes Belt’ Are Plagued With Medical Debt
The “Diabetes Belt,” as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comprises 644 mostly Southern counties where diabetes rates are high. Of those counties, ϳԹ News and NPR found, more than half also have high levels of medical debt.