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Studies show that at least half of ground ambulance rides across the nation leave patients with āsurpriseā medical bills. And a $300-a-mile ride is not unusual. Yet federal legislation to stem whatās known as balance billing has largely ignored ambulance costs.
With most nonemergency procedures shelved for now, many health insurers are expected to see profits in the near term, but the longer view of how the coronavirus will affect them is far more complicated and could well impact what people pay for coverage next year.
āAn Arm and a Legā is back sharing stories about the ways COVID-19 intersects with the cost of health care. To tackle a listenerās question about health coverage, Dan Weissmann spoke with one of the countryās top insurance nerds.
Language in the CARES Act says providers who take emergency funding cannot balance-bill coronavirus patients ā and āevery patientā is considered a possible COVID-19 patient.
The proposal being weighed by federal officials would allow employers and insurers to decide that drug companiesā assistance doesnāt count toward their membersā deductible or out-of-pocket maximum spending limits. If plans opted for that approach, only payments made by patients themselves would be included in the calculation toward reaching those limits.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
The bold move by the giant hospital system will help thousands of patients in the wake of a Kaiser Health News investigation last year.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Until very recently, the separate company that runs the emergency department at Nashville General Hospital in Tennessee was continuing to haul patients who couldn't pay medical bills into court.
Surprise bills are just the latest weapons in a decades-long war among health care industry players over who gets to keepĀ the fortunes generated each year from patient illness: $3.6 trillionĀ in 2018. The practice is an outrage, yet no one in the health care sector wants to unilaterally make the type of big concessions that would change things.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
The Affordable Care Act requires that insurers cover birth control with no out-of-pocket costs, but the enforcement mechanism is weak and a pending court case could add further complications.
Federal officials unveiled guidance for states that want to opt out of some of the current funding program and instead seek a fixed payment to gain more flexibility.
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.
A new state law limits what consumers owe if theyāre transported by an air ambulance thatās not part of their insurance network to the amount that theyād be charged if they used an in-network provider. But the law wonāt protect millions of consumers whose health plans arenāt regulated by the state.
In our ongoing, crowdsourced investigation with NPR and CBS, weāve armed future health system pilgrims with the tools they need to avoid exorbitant medical bills and fight back against unfair charges. Hereās a look back at 2019ās stories.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you donāt have to.
The Texas Medical Board bowed out of the rule-making process for a new law protecting consumers from surprise medical bills. Advocates hailed the new rules written by the state insurance regulators.
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