News Muncher - category kff

4 days, 3 hours ago

He went in for a colonoscopy. The hospital charged $19K for two.

Tom Contos is an avid runner. My primary care physician said, ‘Given your family history, let’s get you in.’” Northwestern Memorial Hospital asked him to prepay $1,000 out-of-pocket, and he underwent the procedure in June. Even with that reduction, Littenberg said, he thought Contos’ total out-of-pocket cost of $4,047 was “a lot, though not rare for large academic centers.” Contos’ …

Health Procedure Patients Price Chicago Kff Health News Kff

5 days, 2 hours ago

Rage has long shadowed American health care. It’s rarely produced big change.

Raw Story

Among the biggest-grossing films in America in February 2002 were a war drama about American troops in Somalia, an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, and a future Oscar winner about a brilliant mathematician struggling with schizophrenia. But there was nothing new about the anger at health insurers that Thompson’s shooting unleashed online — and which suspect Luigi Mangione expressed in a …

Change Care Anger Public American Americans Rage

6 days, 6 hours ago

'Try not to go bankrupt': Millions face soaring health insurance costs if subsidies expire

Raw Story

Andrea Deutsch, the mayor of Narberth, Pennsylvania, and the owner of a pet store in town, doesn’t get health care coverage through either of her jobs. The 57-year-old, who is diabetic, pays $638.38 per month for health care coverage — about half of the $1,272.38 she’d owe without the enhanced federal subsidies Congress and the Biden administration put in place …

Health Insurance States Congress Trump Pennsylvania Health Insurance

1 week ago

How are states spending their opioid settlement cash? Look yours up in this database

NPR

How are states spending their opioid settlement cash? Look yours up in this database toggle caption Celia Talbot Tobin for KFF Health News In the past few years, state and local governments across the U.S. have begun spending billions in opioid settlements paid by companies accused of fueling the overdose crisis. Across the country, the money supports other innovative treatment …

Treatment Public Health Money States Settlement Oregon Spending

1 week, 2 days ago

'Ridiculous': Doctor charges for surgery after pulling splinter from toddler's hand

Raw Story

When George Lai of Portland, Oregon, took his toddler son to a pediatrician last summer for a checkup, the doctor noticed a little splinter in the child’s palm. That brief tug was transformed into a surgical billing code: Current Procedural Terminology code 10120, “incision and removal of a foreign body, subcutaneous” — at a cost of $414. “There’s more pressure …

Health Surgery Office Skin Doctor Code Kff Health News

1 week, 4 days ago

US health insurance: Frustrations with care denials

CNN

CNN — Instead of being able to calmly focus on her chemotherapy treatment, Arete Tsoukalas had to spend hours on the phone arguing with her insurer while receiving infusions in the hospital. Diagnosed with leukemia three years ago, Tsoukalas, 26, was stunned to learn that her insurer’s coverage of the drug she needed came with a $13,000 monthly copay, which …

Insurance Medical Health Care Cnn Insurer Kff Her Insurer

2 weeks, 1 day ago

Trump could change how Medicaid is funded using state block grants

NPR

Trump could change how Medicaid is funded using state block grants NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with health policy researcher Robin Rudowitz about the prospect of cuts to Medicaid and what impact that would have. Medicaid also covers 41% of all births in the United States, as well as half of children with special health care needs. RASCOE: Republican lawmakers have …

Health Change States Care Coverage Republican State

2 weeks, 3 days ago

Following killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, stories flood social media of denied insurance claims

CNN

New York CNN — The early morning killing of a top health insurance executive in midtown Manhattan Wednesday has unleashed a flurry of rage and frustration from social media users over denials of their medical claims, a public display of Americans’ pent-up anger at the nation’s complex health insurance industry. Police are exploring whether the words indicate a motive since …

Health Social Media Media Social Medical Medicare Health Care

2 weeks, 6 days ago

The fight against medical debt is pivoting to the states after Trump's election

NPR

The fight against medical debt is pivoting to the states after Trump's election toggle caption adventtr/E+/Getty Images Worried that President-elect Donald Trump will curtail federal efforts to take on the nation's medical debt problem, patient and consumer advocates are looking to states to help people who can't afford their medical bills or pay down their debts. "The election simply shifts …

Health Medical Financial Credit States Trump Patients

3 weeks ago

As federal aid shrinks, communities try new ways to tackle child poverty on their own

NPR

As federal aid shrinks, communities try new ways to tackle child poverty on their own toggle caption ‎‎Kate Wells/Michigan Public If you bring a baby into the Hurley Children's Center clinic in downtown Flint, Mich., Mona Hanna will find you. "It could be a good thing," Leann Espinoza, maternal-infant health program manager for the eastern Upper Peninsula, said in August. …

Health Poverty Kids Child Families Michigan Aid

3 weeks, 2 days ago

TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to lead

Salon

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies that would pose significant conflicts of interest. Oz’s holdings, some shared with family, included a stake in UnitedHealth Group worth as much as …

Health Medicare Trump Pennsylvania Investments Companies Care

3 weeks, 6 days ago

Georgians with disabilities are still being institutionalized, despite federal oversight

Salon

ATLANTA — Lloyd Mills was tired of being stuck in a small, drab hospital room. “Anytime somebody has to live in a segregated setting when they don’t want to, it’s terrible.” The Americans with Disabilities Act, as clarified in a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision, says Mills and other people with disabilities have been legally entitled to receive care at …

Community Georgia Mental Health Services Mental Illness Illness Disabilities

4 weeks ago

TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to lead

LA Times

Mehmet Oz, the former host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” speaks during a ceremony honoring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Feb. 11, 2022, in Los Angeles. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held …

Health Services Trump Pennsylvania Investments Companies Senate

1 month ago

TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to lead

CNN

KFF Health News — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies that would pose significant conflicts of interest. Oz’s holdings, some shared with family, included a stake in UnitedHealth Group …

Health Medicare Pennsylvania Investments Companies Care Senate

TV's Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by the agency Trump wants him to run

NPR

TV's Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by the agency Trump wants him to run toggle caption Win McNamee/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump's choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — may have significant conflicts of interest. Oz's positions on health policy have been chameleonic; …

Health Trump Pennsylvania Investments Companies Senate Run

1 month ago

Here's how Trump and the GOP may try to weaken Obamacare

NPR

Here's how Trump and the GOP may try to weaken Obamacare toggle caption Andrew Harnik/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House could embolden Republicans who want to weaken or repeal the Affordable Care Act. Sponsor Message "The Republican plans — they don't say they are going to repeal the ACA, but their collection of policies could amount …

Law Health Policy Congress Trump Orders Changes

1 month ago

He was stuck in a hospital for 8 months. How states can fail people with disabilities

NPR

He was stuck in a hospital for 8 months. Sponsor Message "It's an emergency" Nearly 15 years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia for unnecessarily segregating people with developmental disabilities and mental illness. "It's stressful" For people with developmental disabilities, like Mills, that prolonged arrival means more time confined to hospitals and nursing homes. It's "down to the …

Health Community Georgia Services States Mental Illness Disabilities

1 month ago

Pay first, deliver later: Some women are being asked to prepay for their baby

CNN

KFF Health News — In April, just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, Kathleen Clark was standing at the receptionist window of her OB-GYN’s office when she was asked to pay $960, the total the office estimated she would owe after she delivered. Medical billing and women’s health experts believe OB-GYN offices adopted the practice to manage the high cost of …

Policy Insurance Pregnancy Women Health Care Health Insurance Pay

1 month ago

Nationwide IV fluid shortage changing how hospitals manage patient hydration

NPR

Nationwide IV fluid shortage changing how hospitals manage patient hydration toggle caption Tommy Bumgarner/Aerial Lens via Facebook Hospitals around the country are conserving critical intravenous fluid bags to cope with a shortage that may last months. In an email to KFF Health News, the company wrote that customers will be able to order normal quantities of "certain IV solutions products" …

Health Hospitals Hospital Bag Need Patient Kff Health News

1 month ago

Maryland is training more health workers to offer abortion care

Salon

In the two counties around nurse practitioner Samantha Marsee’s clinic in rural northeastern Maryland, there’s not a single clinic that provides abortions. In 2022, Maryland lawmakers passed the Abortion Care Access Act, expanding the type of medical care nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse-midwives could offer, including abortion, and the training program “prioritized that group,” Bondy said. As more …

Health Training Abortion Patients Care Maryland Medication

1 month, 2 weeks ago

They split the ticket. Meet the abortion rights voters who also went for Trump

NPR

They split the ticket. The pattern of voters supporting abortion rights, but choosing Trump over Harris held true in all ten states with ballot measures to protect abortion rights on the ballot. “I believe his policy is that he’s just going to give it back to the states and from there they could decide how important it was.” The survey …

Health Abortion Health Care Rights States Trump Miami

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Dentists are pulling "healthy" and treatable teeth to profit from implants, experts warn

Salon

Becky Carroll was missing a few teeth, and others were stained or crooked. “Why would I extract your tooth because you need a root canal?” Jaime Lozada, director of an elite dental implant residency program at Loma Linda University, said he’d not only witnessed an increase in dentists extracting “perfectly healthy teeth” but also treated a rash of patients with …

Equity Surgery Patients Private Equity New Jersey Dental Private

1 month, 2 weeks ago

We checked up on the states that promise transparency on opioid settlement funds

NPR

We checked up on the states that promise transparency on opioid settlement funds toggle caption Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images To discover how millions in opioid settlement funds are being spent in Idaho, you can visit the attorney general’s website, which hosts 91 documents from state and local entities getting the money. Victims of the crisis, advocates, and public policy …

Health Money States Settlement New Hampshire Public Funds

1 month, 2 weeks ago

How health care could change under the new Trump administration

NPR

How health care could change under the new Trump administration toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Former President Donald Trump’s election victory and coming return to the White House will likely bring changes that scale back the nation’s public health insurance programs — potentially increasing the uninsured rate, while imposing new barriers to abortion and other reproductive care. Trump said in an …

Medicare Health Care States Trump Care Administration Kennedy

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Articles for Kff

He went in for a colonoscopy. The hospital charged $19K for two.

Rage has long shadowed American health care. It’s rarely produced big change.

'Try not to go bankrupt': Millions face soaring health insurance costs if subsidies expire

How are states spending their opioid settlement cash? Look yours up in this database

'Ridiculous': Doctor charges for surgery after pulling splinter from toddler's hand

US health insurance: Frustrations with care denials

Trump could change how Medicaid is funded using state block grants

Following killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, stories flood social media of denied insurance claims

The fight against medical debt is pivoting to the states after Trump's election

As federal aid shrinks, communities try new ways to tackle child poverty on their own

TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to lead

Georgians with disabilities are still being institutionalized, despite federal oversight

TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to lead

TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to lead

TV's Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by the agency Trump wants him to run

Here's how Trump and the GOP may try to weaken Obamacare

He was stuck in a hospital for 8 months. How states can fail people with disabilities

Pay first, deliver later: Some women are being asked to prepay for their baby

Nationwide IV fluid shortage changing how hospitals manage patient hydration

Maryland is training more health workers to offer abortion care

They split the ticket. Meet the abortion rights voters who also went for Trump

Dentists are pulling "healthy" and treatable teeth to profit from implants, experts warn

We checked up on the states that promise transparency on opioid settlement funds

How health care could change under the new Trump administration