‘Free’ Screening? Know Your Rights to Get No-Cost Care
Even a decade in, the Affordable Care Actâs recommendations to simply cover preventive screening and care without cost sharing remain confusing and complex.
Medicare
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Government Watchdogs Attack Medicare Advantage for Denying Care and Overcharging
The Government Accountability Office and the Health and Human Services inspector generalâs office say seniors enrolled in the program are suffering and taxpayers are getting bilked for billions of dollars a year.
By Fred Schulte -
100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt
The U.S. health system now produces debt on a mass scale, a new investigation shows. Patients face gut-wrenching sacrifices.
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Buy and Bust: When Private Equity Comes for Rural Hospitals
Noble Health swept into two small Missouri towns promising to save their hospitals. Instead, workers and vendors say it stopped paying bills and government inspectors found it put patients at risk. Within two years â after taking millions in federal covid relief and big administrative fees â it locked the doors.
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Medicaid Weighs Attaching Strings to Nursing Home Payments to Improve Patient Care
The Biden administration is considering whether Medicaid, which pays the bills for 62% of nursing home residents, should require that most of that funding be used to provide care, rather than for maintenance, capital improvements, or profits.
By Susan Jaffe -
AARPâs Billion-Dollar Bounty
With its latest venture into primary care clinics, is Americaâs leading organization for seniors selling its trusted seal of approval?
By Fred Schulte -
KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: Washingtonâs Slow Churn
Stemming gun violence is back on the legislative agenda following three mass shootings in less than a month, but itâs hard to predict success when so many previous efforts have failed. Meanwhile, lawmakers must soon decide if they will extend current premium subsidies for those buying health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the Biden administration acts, belatedly, on Medicare premiums. Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat News join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHNâs Michelle Andrews, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR âBill of the Monthâ episode about a too-common problem: denial of no-cost preventive care for a colonoscopy under the Affordable Care Act.
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Despite a First-Ever ‘Right-to-Repair’ Law, Thereâs No Easy Fix for Wheelchair Users
Colorado lawmakers approved a measure that will make it easier for people to fix their power wheelchairs when they wear out or break down, but arcane regulations and manufacturers create high hurdles for nationwide reform.
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KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: Leaked Abortion Opinion Rocks Washingtonâs World
The unprecedented early leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn the landmark abortion-rights ruling Roe v. Wade has heated the national abortion debate to boiling. Meanwhile, the FDA, after years of consideration, moves to ban menthol flavors in cigarettes and cigars. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Shefali Luthra of the 19th, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHNâs Paula Andalo, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR âBill of the Monthâ episode about a family whose medical debt drove them to seek care south of the border.
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Medicare Surprise: Drug Plan Prices Touted During Open Enrollment Can Rise Within a Month
Even the savviest Medicare drug plan shoppers can get a shock when they fill prescriptions: That great deal on medications is no bargain after prices go up.
By Susan Jaffe -
KHNâs âWhat the Health?â: News You Might Have Missed
Congress is in recess, so the slower-than-average news week gives us a chance to catch up on underreported topics, like Medicareâs coverage decision for the controversial Alzheimerâs disease drug Aduhelm and ominous new statistics on drug overdose deaths and sexually transmitted diseases. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHNâs Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
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Why Black and Hispanic Seniors Are Left With a Less Powerful Flu Vaccine
Federal health officials havenât taken a clear position on whether a high-dose influenza vaccine â on the market since 2010 â is the best choice for people 65 and older. Many in that group already opt for the costlier enhanced shot. Those who get the standard vaccine are disproportionately members of ethnic and racial minorities.
By Arthur Allen -
Despite Doctorsâ Concerns, Pharmacists Get More Leeway to Offer Treatment With Testing
In the battle against covid, pharmacies became a key place for consumers to seek vaccines and testing. Some states are expanding pharmacistsâ work to include directly prescribing drugs for customers who seek some routine, point-of-care tests, such as those for flu or strep throat. But doctor groups oppose the move.
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At a Tennessee Crossroads, Two Pharmacies, a Monkey, and Millions of Pills
Prosecutors say opioid-seeking patients drove hours to get their prescriptions filled in Celina, Tennessee, where pharmacies ignored signs of substance misuse and paid cash â or âmonkey bucksâ â to keep customers coming back.
By Brett Kelman -
Medicare Advantage Plans Send Pals to Seniorsâ Homes for Companionship â And Profits
Many Medicare Advantage plans send caregivers to the homes of seniors periodically to help with housework and provide companionship. But the workers may also prod seniors into activities that boost the plansâ Medicare ratings and federal reimbursements.
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Listen: An Unsettling Investigation Into the Closure of a Chain of Pain Clinics
KHN senior correspondents Jenny Gold and Anna Maria Barry-Jester joined KVPRâs Kathleen Schock on âValley Editionâ to discuss their investigation into the abrupt closure of one of Californiaâs largest chain of pain clinics â and the patients left behind.
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Patients Divided Over Alzheimerâs Drug: Is It a âRisk Iâm Willing to Takeâ or Just a âMagic Pillâ?
Medicare has proposed limiting coverage of Aduhelm, the costly new drug to treat Alzheimerâs disease, and several prominent groups representing patients and their families are pressing the program to make it more widely available. But among individuals facing the disease, the outlook is more nuanced.
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Biden Pledges Better Nursing Home Care, but He Likely Wonât Fast-Track It
CMS chief Chiquita Brooks-LaSure says the agency reserves its power to quickly institute new regulations for âabsolute emergencies.â On staffing, nursing home residents might need to wait years to see any real change.
By Rachana Pradhan and Harris Meyer -
Seeking to Shift Costs to Medicare, More Employers Move Retirees to Advantage Plans
Private and public employers are increasingly using the governmentâs Medicare Advantage program as an alternative to their existing retiree health plan and traditional Medicare coverage. As a result, the federal government is paying the âoverwhelming majorityâ of medical costs, according to an industry analyst.
By Susan Jaffe -
Fact Check: Biden Sets High Bar in 1st State of the Union Speech
What a difference a year makes. The speech was delivered to a largely unmasked crowd of lawmakers, justices, and Cabinet members in the House chamber.
By Victoria Knight and Colleen DeGuzman