‘Free’ Screening? Know Your Rights to Get No-Cost Care
Even a decade in, the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 recommendations to simply cover preventive screening and care without cost sharing remain confusing and complex.
Insurance
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How to Get Rid of Medical Debt 鈥 Or Avoid It in the First Place
Medical bills can add stress to the already stressful experience of dealing with a medical crisis. And if you can鈥檛 pay those bills, they can linger, wreaking havoc on your financial goals and credit. Here鈥檚 how to protect yourself.
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Big Employers Are Offering Abortion Benefits. Will the Information Stay Safe?
Work-based benefits may expand access to abortion for people who live in areas where the service is unavailable, but experts warn that claiming benefits could create a paper trail for law enforcement officials to follow.
By Darius Tahir -
Government Watchdogs Attack Medicare Advantage for Denying Care and Overcharging
The Government Accountability Office and the Health and Human Services inspector general鈥檚 office say seniors enrolled in the program are suffering and taxpayers are getting bilked for billions of dollars a year.
By Fred Schulte -
His-and-Hers Cataract Surgeries, But His Bill Was 20 Times as Much
Whether a simple operation is performed under the auspices of a hospital or at an independent surgery center can make a huge difference in cost.
By Angela Hart -
Readers and Tweeters Weigh In on Medical Debt, the Obesity Epidemic, and Opioid Battles
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
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KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat the Health?鈥: The FDA Goes After Nicotine
The FDA is using its power to regulate tobacco products 鈥 ordering the vaping device Juul off the market and announcing its intention to lower the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and other products. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rules on Medicare and kidney dialysis, and Congress makes progress on legislation surrounding guns and mental health. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN鈥檚 Noam N. Levey about the new KHN-NPR project on the growing impact of medical debt.
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Trump鈥檚 Legacy Looms Large as Colorado Aims to Close the Hispanic Insurance Gap
Hispanic residents have long been among the least likely to have health insurance 鈥 in Colorado and across the country 鈥 in part because of unauthorized immigrants. The state is expanding coverage to some of them, although the change runs up against lingering fears about the use of public benefits.
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New Weight Loss Treatment Is Marked by Heavy Marketing and Modest Results
Approved as a device, not a drug, Plenity contains a plant-based gel that swells to fill 25% of a person鈥檚 stomach, to help people eat less. Results vary widely but are modest on average.
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Medical Bills Can Shatter Lives. North Carolina May Act to 鈥楧e-Weaponize鈥 That Debt.
Medical debt is most prevalent in the Southeast, where states have not expanded Medicaid and have few consumer protection laws. Now, North Carolina is considering two bills that could change that, making the state a leader in protecting patients from high medical bills.
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States Extend Medicaid for New Mothers 鈥 Even as They Reject Broader Expansion
Most of the dozen states that haven鈥檛 fully expanded eligibility for Medicaid have extended or plan to extend the postpartum coverage window for new mothers. That could mean improved maternal health, but it鈥檚 only part of the puzzle when it comes to reducing the number of preventable maternal deaths in the U.S.
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100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt
The U.S. health system now produces debt on a mass scale, a new investigation shows. Patients face gut-wrenching sacrifices.
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Preventive Care May Be Free, but Follow-Up Diagnostic Tests Can Bring Big Bills
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers cannot charge consumers for various preventive services that have been recommended by experts. But if those screenings indicate more testing is needed to determine whether something is wrong, patients may be on the hook for hundreds or even thousands of dollars for diagnostic services.
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Lawmaker Takes on Insurance Companies and Gets Personal About His Health
State Sen. Scott Wiener opens up about a weeklong stint in the hospital last year and what it鈥檚 like to live with Crohn鈥檚 disease. The San Francisco Democrat is pushing a bill that would require insurance companies to cover certain medications while patients appeal denials.
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Patients Seek Mental Health Care From Their Doctor but Find Health Plans Standing in the Way
Despite a consensus that patients should be able to get mental health care from primary care doctors, insurance policies and financial incentives may not support that.
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California Wants to Slash Insulin Prices by Becoming a Drugmaker. Can It Succeed?
Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed spending $100 million to make insulin affordable to millions of people with diabetes under a new state generic drug label, CalRx. But state officials haven鈥檛 said how much the insulin will cost patients or how the state will deal with distribution and other challenges.
By Angela Hart -
They Thought They Were Buying Obamacare Plans. What They Got Wasn鈥檛 Insurance.
Some consumers who think they are signing up for Obamacare insurance find out later they actually purchased a membership to a health care sharing ministry. But regulators and online advertising sites don鈥檛 do much about it.
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AARP鈥檚 Billion-Dollar Bounty
With its latest venture into primary care clinics, is America鈥檚 leading organization for seniors selling its trusted seal of approval?
By Fred Schulte -
KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat the Health?鈥: Washington鈥檚 Slow Churn
Stemming gun violence is back on the legislative agenda following three mass shootings in less than a month, but it鈥檚 hard to predict success when so many previous efforts have failed. Meanwhile, lawmakers must soon decide if they will extend current premium subsidies for those buying health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the Biden administration acts, belatedly, on Medicare premiums. Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat News join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN鈥檚 Michelle Andrews, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 episode about a too-common problem: denial of no-cost preventive care for a colonoscopy under the Affordable Care Act.
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Computer Glitches and Human Error Still Causing Insurance Headaches for Californians
Covered California and Medi-Cal share a computer system for eligibility and enrollment. Nearly a decade since the Affordable Care Act expanded coverage options in the state, enrollees can be diverted to the wrong program 鈥 or dropped altogether 鈥 if erroneous information gets into the system.