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The Trump administration finalized a rule that embraces new types of Obamacare coverage, including 30% higher out-of-pocket costs for some plans, and a more novel approach that allows insurers to offer coverage without set networks of doctors and hospitals.
Across the country, people are choosing lower monthly premiums in exchange for higher out-of-pocket risk. Reporter Jackie FortiĆ©r explains what the shift means for Americansā health and wallets.
Lower premiums often mean higher costs when you get sick and need care. Among the ways to plan ahead and soften the financial hit: health savings accounts, which act like a medical piggy bank.
The Affordable Care Act put in place a package of benefits that health insurance plans must cover. Critics contend this mandate has jacked up premiums. Evidence supporting that claim is mixed.
Sweeping changes to the Affordable Care Act marketplace next year have been proposed by the Trump administration that focus on making more insurance plans available with higher annual out-of-pocket costs but lower premiums.
High-deductible health insurance plans are increasingly common, and many more enrollees will likely need to choose such plans for the coming year. For those with chronic conditions like diabetes, the gamble can mean compromised care and long-term consequences.
Republican calls to give Americans cash instead of health insurance subsidies double down on a decades-old strategy of moving people into high-deductible plans with health savings accounts.
Tens of millions of people face sticker shock enrolling in Affordable Care Act insurance for 2026. To save money, the Trump administration wants them to consider less generous coverage.
Moves by the Trump administration to pare back Medicaid, rescind medical debt rules, and loosen vaccine requirements threaten to increase medical bills for millions of Americans.
One listener tried to dispute a $1,300 āfacility feeā with the treating hospital, his insurer, a bill-mediation service provided by his employer, and finally a debt collector. He didnāt win, but he learned valuable lessons about advocating for hospital discounts.
An online calculator told a young woman that a procedure to rule out cancer would cost an uninsured person about $1,400. Instead, the hospital initially charged almost $18,000 and, with her high-deductible health insurance, she owed more than $5,000.
Carmen Quintero had symptoms of COVID-19, couldnāt get tested and ended up with a huge bill. She also was told to self-isolate and assume she had the coronavirus ā which is hard when you live with elders.
KHN senior correspondent Markian Hawryluk joined Colorado Public Radioās Avery Lill on āColorado Mattersā to discuss his recent story on how high-deductible health plans are especially hurting the financial health of patients and hospitals in rural America.
Small hospitals and patients in rural areas have been hit hard by the boom in high-deductible health plans. Often when a patient arrives at a rural hospital needing critical care, the person is stabilized and transferred to a larger facility. But bills from the first site of care generally get applied to the patientās deductible. When patients canāt afford their deductible, the smaller hospital winds up eating the costs.
A 3-year-old girl put matching doll shoes up her nose. One came out easily. The second required an emergency department visit ā and generated a bill that is not childās play.
Firms are offering more traditional plans alongside or instead of the plans with sky-high deductibles that may have been the only option in the past. The change comes as employers are finding that workers like the predictability of a traditional plan and that providing more generous plans can help with recruiting in a tight labor market.
Washington is abuzz with impeachment talk, but what impact would such a move have on congressional action on prescription drug prices and surprise bills? Also, a study out this week shows that health insurance costs for both employers and workers continue to rise. This week, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call join KHNās Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Findings released Thursday by the Rand Corp. highlight how reimbursement rates vary nationally and the impact the charges have on the nationās high cost of health care.Ā
An Arizona couple played by the rules and bought employer-provided health insurance. But after they had a baby this year, their out-of-pocket hospital costs and doctorsā bills climbed to more than $12,000 ā and medical debt now threatens their new family.
Once viewed as a promising cost-control tool, such insurance faces new competition on benefits menus from more traditional insurance. But, according to new research, none of those choices is getting less expensive.
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