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Nearly half of large employers report that increasing numbers of their workers were using mental health services, according to a KFF annual employer survey. Yet almost a third of those employers said their health planâs network didnât have enough behavioral health care providers for employees to have timely access to the care they need.
Investors are putting money into everything from emergency room obstetrics units and dermatology practices to nursing homes and hospice care â from cradle to grave.
Lupron, a drug patented half a century ago, treats advanced prostate cancer. Itâs sold to physicians for $260 in the U.K. and administered at no charge. Why are U.S. hospitals â which may pay nearly as little for the drug â charging so much more to administer it?
A medical billing specialist investigated her husbandâs ER bill. Her sleuthing took over a year but knocked thousands of dollars off the hospitalâs charges â and provides a playbook for other consumers.
With the midterm elections rapidly approaching, President Joe Biden has taken to the road to convince voters that he and congressional Democrats have delivered for them during two years in power. Among the health issues highlighted by the administration this week are pandemic preparedness and the availability of over-the-counter hearing aids. The president also promised to sign a bill codifying the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade if Democrats maintain control of the House and Senate â even though itâs a long shot that there will be enough votes for that. Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
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.
Medicare can pay for some dental care if it is medically necessary to safely treat another covered medical condition, and federal officials have asked for suggestions on whether that list of conditions should be expanded.
The Biden administration has decided to try to fix the so-called âfamily glitchâ in the Affordable Care Act without an act of Congress. The provision has prevented workersâ families from getting subsidized coverage if an employer offer is unaffordable. Meanwhile, Medicareâs open enrollment period begins Oct. 15, and private Medicare Advantage plans are poised to cover more than half of Medicareâs 65 million enrollees. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read.
California put up $100 million to produce its own insulin. How did this plan come to be, and what might stand in the stateâs way?
Hospitals, boosted by private equity-backed staffing companies, have embraced a new idea: the obstetrics emergency department. Often, it is just a triage room in the labor-and-delivery area, but it bills like the main emergency department.
Congress wonât be back in Washington until after Election Day, but lawmakers have left themselves a long list of items to finish up in November and December, including unfinished health care policies. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call; Jessie Hellmann, also of CQ Roll Call; and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHNâs Sam Whitehead, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR âBill of the Monthâ episode about a family who tried to use urgent care to save money, but ended up with a big emergency room bill anyway.
Penny Wingard, 58, of Charlotte, North Carolina, worries she wonât ever get out from under her medical debt despite new policies that are supposed to prevent medical debt from harming peopleâs credit scores.
New policies to prevent unpaid medical bills from harming peopleâs credit scores are on the way. But the concessions made by top credit reporting companies may fall short for those with the largest debt â especially Black Americans in the South.
If an embryo has implanted in a fallopian tube, ending the pregnancy is imperative to protect the patientâs life. Womenâs health advocates have raised concerns that the needed treatment may be hampered by restrictive abortion laws in some states. Yet women seeking treatment in states with more liberal abortion laws may still find the process expensive and harrowing.
An industry has grown up around sleep apnea, stirring concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Hereâs a collection of their appearances.
KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber talks with NPR's "Consider This" podcast about her reporting on families confronted with medical bills while grieving the loss of a baby who received expensive hospital care.
Sterling Raspe lived just eight months. In this KHN video, her father shows the 2-inch stack of medical bills generated by Sterlingâs care.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Russell Cook was expecting a quick and inexpensive visit to an urgent care center for his daughter, Frankie, after she had a car wreck. Instead, they were advised to go to an emergency room and got a much larger bill.
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