An Air Force Career Held up Because of Debt Owed for Medical Bills
Emergency room care left Samaria Bradford with $5,000 in medical bills. Now she has to track down and pay that debt before she can hope to enlist in the military.
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Emergency room care left Samaria Bradford with $5,000 in medical bills. Now she has to track down and pay that debt before she can hope to enlist in the military.
Monica Reed was the first in her family to own a home and has lived "a frugal kind of life." Cancer treatment left her with almost $10,000 in debt, pushing her to the edge financially.
A complaint was filed with the state against an addiction treatment provider that wants to use rewards — an effective but largely unregulated tool — to help people stay in recovery.
Hospitals have depended on travel nurses to fill shifts, especially during covid surges. Now some larger systems, reeling from high contract labor costs, have created staffing units, aiming to lure nurses who want more work flexibility and better pay than staff RNs get.
Coal mining ended in Germany’s Saarland a decade ago, but the transition away from coal has been smoother than in West Virginia, which has more medical debt than any state in America.
A months-long KHN examination of the system meant to bar fraudsters from Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health programs found gaping holes and expansive gray areas through which banned individuals slip to repeatedly bilk taxpayer-funded programs.
Yes, the U.S. is experiencing an unusual spate of childhood RSV infections. But the critical shortage of hospital beds to treat ailing children stems from structural problems in pediatric care that have been brewing for years.
Turnover ails a program that allows low-income people who are older or disabled to age in place. To attract new workers and improve retention, the state is paying caregivers to develop new skills.
The government soon will stop paying for the covid drug that has proved to be the most effective at keeping patients alive and out of the hospital.
The Florida policy backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis relies on one key statistic that many experts question.
Some insurers and employers are tapping into assistance programs meant for individual patients. The concern: Some costly drugs could be harder for patients to access.
Assisted living was meant to be a home-like setting where older adults could interact with other residents while receiving help with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing. But as the concept has become more popular, residents are now older and sicker than in the past, and a panel of experts is calling for more focus on their medical and mental health needs.
Like many U.S. workplaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went remote during the pandemic. Most of the agency’s staff members haven’t returned to the office full time, raising concerns about the CDC’s ability to reform itself after recent stumbles.
Private equity-backed Headlands Research heralded its covid-19 vaccine trials as a chance to boost participation among diverse populations, then it shuttered multiple sites that conducted them.
The number of U.S. health care providers certified to prescribe buprenorphine more than doubled in the past four years, and treatment advocates hope to see that trend continue.
A Grand Junction program is training and retaining nurse and personal care aides in areas where the aging population is creating a need for them. But challenges remain for these workers.
Only a sliver of the funding given to state, local, and tribal governments through the American Rescue Plan Act has been steered to mental health nationwide, but mental health advocates and clinicians hope the money it provides will help address gaps in care for children. In Appalachian Ohio, the funding is helping expand services.
Workers who lose employer-based health coverage during a strike or lockout will have access to a full-subsidy plan through Covered California.
For decades, many women of color, particularly those with low incomes, had little control over their family planning care. Now, a White House effort aims to give patients more choices as abortion care evaporates, but patients remain wary of providers.
Taxpayers had to foot the bills for care that should have cost far less, according to records released after KHN filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The government may seek to recover up to $650 million as a result.
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