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In a classic â and hilarious â David vs. Goliath story, Jeffrey Fox takes on a huge hospital over an outrageous bill, and wins.
Former President Barack Obama says President Donald Trump is âjealous of COVIDâs media coverage.â Indeed, Trump has complained at his rallies, attended by mostly maskless supporters, about how the media covers the pandemic â at a time when cases are rising rapidly across the nation. Meanwhile, open enrollment is about to begin for the Affordable Care Act in a year when many people need coverage, but the lawâs future is not secure. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHNâs Anna Almendrala about the latest KHN-NPR âBill of the Monthâ installment.
The hunt for good cancer treatment often means miles on the road, time spent waiting and exhaustion from treatment and transit. âThe further you have to travel to get care, the less likely that you are going to take that effort to do that,â said Boban Mathew, an oncologist in southeastern Kansas.
Glimmers of hope are beginning to appear in the fight against the coronavirus, such as a decreasing death rate. But thereâs not-so-good news, too, including a push for âherd immunity,â which could result in millions more deaths. Meanwhile, the Trump administration doubles down on work requirements for Medicaid. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Mercy Hospital and the people of Fort Scott, Kansas, have a long, tangled history. To understand what the town lost when the hospital shut its doors, we rewind the story to 1886.
We first learned about Shaunna Burns when her tips on medical bills went viral. In part two of our conversation with the so-called TikTok mom, weâre back for guidance about dealing with debt collectors. Then we fact-checked her advice with a legal expert, who said: Most of Burnsâ advice totally checks out.
Barring something unexpected, Democrats in the Senate appear to lack the votes to block the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. So, instead they used the high-profile confirmation hearings to hammer on Republicans for again putting the Affordable Care Act in peril. Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call, Shefali Luthra of The 19th and Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, about public health challenges in dealing with COVID-19.
Fort Scott, Kansas, went without an ER for 18 days, after the local hospital shut down. Documenting local trauma during that âdark periodâ helped investigative reporter Sarah Jane Tribble unravel some of the complications that come after a rural hospital closes.
President Donald Trump is one of at least two dozen people tied to the White House who have tested positive for COVID-19. Negotiations on the next round of COVID relief are off again â maybe. And the FDA and CDC continue to fight for scientific credibility. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Erin Mershon of Stat News join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog about what the Supreme Court might do with the latest case challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
After Mercy Hospital Fort Scott shut its doors, investigative reporter Sarah Jane Tribble traveled to Kansas and spent time with former hospital president Reta Baker and City Manager Dave Martin â to understand what their town lost.
Shaunna Burns went viral on TikTok, partly because of a series of videos dishing out real-talk advice on fighting outrageous medical bills.
How will health issues affect voter choices? What will happen if President Donald Trump is reelected or the White House goes to Joe Biden? In this special election preview episode, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Listen to âWhere It Hurts,â each episode debuting on Tuesdays, from Sept. 29 through Nov. 10. When Mercy Hospital Fort Scott shut its doors, locals lost care. Health workers lost jobs. The hole left behind is bigger than a hospital. Season One is âNo Mercy.â
The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is giving new life to the latest constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act. It also places anti-abortion activists on the cusp of a court majority large enough to ensure the rollback of the right to abortion and, possibly, some types of birth control. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar tries to centralize power at the sprawling department plagued by miscommunications and scandals. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHNâs Sarah Jane Tribble about her new podcast, âWhere It Hurts,â debuting Sept. 29.
Laura Derrickâs personal fight for affordable health care eventually landed her in the middle of a historic political fight â and a movement that transformed American health policy.
President Donald Trump this week issued a prescription drug pricing order unlikely to lower drug prices, and he contradicted comments by his director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the need for mask-wearing and predictions for vaccine availability. Meanwhile, scandals erupted at the CDC, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration. And the number of people without health insurance grew in 2019, reported the Census Bureau, even while the economy soared. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Republicans have all but abandoned the Affordable Care Act as a campaign cudgel, judging from their national convention, at least. Meanwhile, career scientists at the federal governmentâs preeminent health agencies â the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health â are all coming under increasing political pressure as the pandemic drags on. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHNâs Elizabeth Lawrence about the latest KHN-NPR âBill of the Monthâ installment.
When people had a health insurance headache, these two words were a relief: âCall Barbara.â No problem was too big, or too small, sheâd fix it.
Weâre off this week, but the Affordable Care Act is in the news, as the GOP holds its virtual convention and the Supreme Court recently scheduled arguments in a case challenging the law. So weâre reposting our ACA 10th anniversary episode from March. For this special episode of âWhat the Health?â host Julie Rovner interviews Kathleen Sebelius, who was President Barack Obamaâs secretary of Health and Human Services when the law was passed. Then Rovner, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN discuss the lawâs history, impact and prospects for the future.
When a colleague brings a medical billing problem to human resources director Steve Benasso â he goes to battle. âI am a bulldog on this stuff,â he said. In this episode, Benasso tells how he does it.
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