Bill of the Month
吃瓜不打烊, in collaboration with The Washington Post, examines and decodes your perplexing medical bills.
Investigations
Priced Out
America鈥檚 Health Insurance Crisis
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Americans are split over many issues, but helping people with cancer and other serious illnesses retains broad bipartisan support.
301 - 320 of 454 Results
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鈥楾hen the Bill Came鈥: Year 4 of KHN-NPR’s Bill of the Month Is a Wrap
Our crowdsourced investigation of the high, confusing and arbitrary medical bills generated by our health system is set to begin its fifth year in 2022.
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Laws Shield Hospitals From Families Who Believe Loved Ones Contracted Covid as Patients
Families who believe their loved ones contracted covid-19 while hospitalized are finding they have little recourse following a wave of liability shield legislation pushed by business interests.
By Lauren Weber and Christina Jewett -
As Patients Fell Ill With Covid Inside Hospitals, Government Oversight Fell Short
A KHN investigation finds that hospitals with high rates of covid patients who didn鈥檛 have the diagnosis when they were admitted have rarely been held accountable due to multiple gaps in government oversight.
By Lauren Weber and Christina Jewett -
NICU Bill Installment Plan: That鈥檒l Be $45,843 a Month for 12 Months, Please
After baby Dorian Bennett arrived two months early and spent more than 50 days in the neonatal ICU, his parents received a bill of more than $550,000 鈥 despite having insurance. The Florida hospital had a not-so-helpful suggestion: monthly payments of more than $45,000 for a year.
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Crash Course: Injured Patients Who Sign 鈥楲etters of Protection鈥 May Face Huge Medical Bills and Risks
The letters function as liens that 鈥減rotect鈥 spine surgery clinics while patients could be left with inflated medical bills and unexpected health risks.
By Fred Schulte -
The ER Charged Him $6,500 for Six Stitches. No Wonder His Critically Ill Wife Avoided the ER.
With few options for health care in their rural community, a Tennessee couple鈥檚 experience with one outrageous bill could have led to a deadly decision the next time they needed help.
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Stranded by the Pandemic, He Had Only Travel Insurance. It Left Him With a $38,000 Bill.
Although it鈥檚 possible to buy travel insurance that provides some health coverage, the devil is in the fine print. Obama-era laws that prevent refusal of payment for preexisting conditions don鈥檛 apply to travel insurance.
By Arthur Allen -
Hormone Blocker Sticker Shock 鈥 Again 鈥 As Patients Lose Cheaper Drug Option
Kids who need a hormone-blocking drug to delay puberty have lost an off-label option. The nearly identical drug the company still sells costs eight times more.
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Patients Went Into the Hospital for Care. After Testing Positive There for Covid, Some Never Came Out.
About 21% of patients diagnosed with covid during a hospital stay died, according to data analyzed for KHN. In-hospital rates of spread varied widely and patients had no way of checking them.
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How Billing Turns a Routine Birth Into a High-Cost Emergency
鈥淥bstetrical emergency departments鈥 are a new feature in some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask the parents of Baby Gus.
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Pharma Campaign Cash Delivered to Key Lawmakers With Surgical Precision
With an eye to shutting down Medicare drug price negotiations, drug companies and their lobbying groups gave roughly $1.6 million in the first six months of 2021, with Democrats edging closer than they have in a decade to Republicans鈥 total haul.
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A Covid Test Costing More Than a Tesla? It Happened in Texas.
A patient from Dallas got a PCR test in a free-standing suburban emergency room. The out-of-network charge: $54,000.
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Over Half of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers in Pandemic
At least 26 states have passed laws to permanently limit public health powers, a KHN investigation has found, weakening the country鈥檚 ability to fight not only the current resurgence of the pandemic but other health crises to come.
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Florida Spine Surgeon and Device Company Owner Charged in Kickback Scheme
Dr. Kingsley R. Chin and SpineFrontier were the subject of a recent KHN 鈥淪pinal Tap鈥 investigation.
By Fred Schulte -
Watch: Same Providers, Similar Surgeries, But Different Bills
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the latest Bill of the Month installment, in which a man discovered the hard way that health plans can vary from one job to the next, even if the insurer is the same.
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Jaw Surgery Takes a $27,119 Bite out of One Man鈥檚 Budget
A Seattle patient discovers the hard way that you can still hit a lifetime limit for certain types of care. And health plans can vary a lot from one job to the next, even if the insurer is the same.
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Surgeons Cash In on Stakes in Private Medical Device Companies
Doctors tied to professional sports teams share in investment bonanza.
By Fred Schulte -
Injuries Mount as Sales Reps for Device Makers Cozy Up to Surgeons, Even in Operating Rooms
Aggressive sales tactics have allegedly led surgeons to use defective or wrong-size implants, screws or other products on patients, including former Olympian Mary Lou Retton.
By Fred Schulte -
Watch: Cyclist Hits Olympic-Size Medical Bills After Crash
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal appears on "CBS This Morning" to discuss the latest installment of the KHN-NPR Bill of the Month investigative series.
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Olympic Dream Dashed After Bike Crash and Nightmare Medical Bill Over $200K
A bicyclist from California competed in a Pennsylvania race that could have landed him in this month鈥檚 Tokyo Olympics. Instead, a crash on the velodrome track landed him in two hospitals where his out-of-state, out-of-network surgeries garnered huge bills.