Readers and Tweeters Find Disadvantages in Medicare Advantage
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Healthcare Costs
1,101 - 1,120 of 1,914 Results
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KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: Why Health Care Is So Expensive, Chapter $22K
Congress is making slow progress toward completing its ambitious social spending bill, although its Thanksgiving deadline looks optimistic. Meanwhile, a new survey finds the average cost of an employer-provided family plan has risen to more than $22,000. Thatâs about the cost of a new Toyota Corolla. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Rebecca Love, a nurse academic and entrepreneur, about the impending crisis in nursing.
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Medicareâs Open Enrollment Is Open Season for Scammers
Medicare officials say complaints are rising from seniors lured into private plans with misleading information or enrolled without their consent. In response, officials have threatened to penalize the private companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans if they or agents working on their behalf mislead consumers.
By Susan Jaffe -
As Workers Struggle With Pandemicâs Impact, Employers Expand Mental Health Benefits
Many job-based health plans broadened their mental health and substance use coverage to make sure workers had the support they needed this year as pandemic stress lingered, the annual KFF survey finds. Also, the proportion of employers offering health insurance to their workers remained steady, and increases for premiums and out-of-pocket health expenses were moderate.
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Medicare Enrollment Blitz Doesnât Include Options to Move Into Medigap
TV ads and mailings targeting seniors tout Medicare Advantage plans this time of year, but millions choosing traditional Medicare make a costly and difficult decision about Medigap coverage, which gets much less attention.
By Harris Meyer -
Democrats Plan to Expand Medicare Hearing Benefits. What Can Consumers Expect?
KHN answers questions for seniors about how this new benefit might work.
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KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: Compromise Is Coming â Maybe
Democratic negotiators on Capitol Hill appear to be nearing a compromise on President Joe Bidenâs social spending agenda, spurred partly by Democratic losses on Election Day in Virginia. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court hints it might allow abortion providers to sue Texas over its restrictive new ban. But the relief, if it comes, could be short-lived if the court uses a second case, challenging a law in Mississippi, to weaken or overturn Roe v. Wade. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHNâs Rae Ellen Bichell, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR âBill of the Monthâ feature about an emergency bill for a nonemergency birth.
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New Health Plans Offer Twists on Existing Options, With a Dose of âBuyer Bewareâ
Fueled by consumer frustration with high premiums and deductibles, two new offerings promise a means for consumers to take control of their health care costs. But experts say they pose risks.
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Uninsured in South Would Win Big in Democratsâ Plan, but Hospitals Fear Funding Loss
The latest iteration of President Joe Biden's social-spending package would close the health insurance gap for at least 2.2 million people, making a huge difference especially in the South, where political opposition has blocked Medicaid expansion.
By Phil Galewitz and Andy Miller -
âAn Arm and a Legâ: Need Surgery to Save Your Life? Tips for Getting Insurance to Pay
Laurie Todd calls herself the âInsurance Warriorâ and is sharing her strategies for getting health insurance companies to bend to her will.
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What’s Scarier Than Covid? Halloween Health Haikus
A huge thank you to our readers who participated in our third annual KHN Halloween Haiku Contest. Based on a review by our expert panel of judges, we unmask the winner and serve a sampling of finalists.
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KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: Biden Social-Spending âFrameworkâ Pulls Back on Key Health Pledges
President Joe Biden unveiled a compromise âBuild Back Betterâ framework shortly before taking off for key meetings in Europe, but itâs unclear whether the framework can win the votes of all Democrats in the House and Senate, and it leaves out some of the partyâs health priorities, notably significant provisions to lower prescription drug prices. Meanwhile, younger children may soon be eligible for covid vaccines. Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachana Pradhan of KHN join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
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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 Republicansâ total haul.
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How Billing Turns a Routine Birth Into a High-Cost Emergency
âObstetrical emergency departmentsâ 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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Analysis: A Procedure That Cost $1,775 in New York Was $350 in Maryland. Hereâs Why.
The stateâs unique health system controls what hospitals can charge for services.
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Direct Primary Care, With a Touch of Robin Hood
Some doctors, sick of mainstream health careâs red tape, are finding refuge in practices that combine concierge medicine with charity care.
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3 States Limit Nursing Home Profits in Bid to Improve Care
Following the devastating impact of covid-19 on nursing homes, state lawmakers want to be sure that government and private payments primarily go to improve care and staffing.
By Susan Jaffe -
âAn Arm and a Legâ: Hello? We Spend 12 Million Hours a Week on the Phone With Insurers
In this episode, we get our bearings on self-funded insurance plans, and how they affect the average â sometimes burned-out â American worker trying to get answers about insurance.
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How to Crush Medical Debt: 5 Tips for Using Hospital Charity Care
The law says nonprofit hospitals are supposed to offer low-income patients financial assistance. But the average person doesnât know about it. Hereâs how to get help.
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KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: The Politics of Vaccine Mandates
Like almost everything else associated with the covid-19 pandemic, partisans are taking sides over whether vaccines should be mandated. Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill are still struggling to find compromise in their effort to expand health insurance and other social programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jen Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews best-selling author Beth Macy about her book âDopesick,â and the new Hulu miniseries based on it.