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When medical bills started rolling in, a teacherās aide in Florida wondered why her insurance suddenly wasnāt covering them. The answer? She owed a balance of 5 cents, so her insurer canceled her policy.
Health care prices are on the rise, and patients are flummoxed that even insurance companies arenāt doing more to control costs.
Diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, a California man was prescribed a drug that costs thousands of dollars a month. He said he was reassured that the drugmakerās copay card would cover his share, but after two months, the card was empty.
Homemade hot sauce sent a Colorado man to the emergency room with what he called āthe worst pain of my life.ā But stomach cramps were only the beginning. Two years later, the bill came.
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As health systems, doctor groups, and insurers merge into ever-bigger giants, patient care gets more expensive. Yet the Trump administration has sent mixed signals about its willingness to intervene ā and shown some disdain for Biden officialsā more aggressive approach.
The erosion of the Affordable Care Act has created an insurance cliff for Americans who are turning 26 and donāt have a job that provides medical coverage. Scared off by high price tags and the complexity of picking a policy, some young adults are going without insurance.
The cost of health insurance is rising faster than the price of eggs or gasoline.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to defund mRNA research is just the latest to put ideology above public health.
Itās a difficult rite of passage for young adults without job-based insurance. Here are some tips for getting started.
Young adults without jobs that provide insurance find their options are limited and expensive. The problem is about to get worse.
The No Surprises Act, which was signed in 2020 and took effect in 2022, was heralded as a landmark piece of legislation that would protect people who had health insurance from receiving surprise medical bills. And yet bills that take patients by surprise keep coming.
One thing experts agree on: The damage from the funding cuts will be varied and immense.
Since 2018, readers and listeners sent Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News-NPRās āBill of the Monthā thousands of questionable bills. Our crowdsourced investigation paved the way for landmark legislation and highlighted cost-saving strategies for all patients.
Minor interventions are increasingly being rebranded and billed as surgery, for profit. This means a neurologist spending 40 minutes with a patient to tease out a diagnosis can be paid less for that time than a dermatologist spending a few seconds squirting a dollop of liquid nitrogen onto the skin.
The pharmaceutical industry has invented a new art form: finding ways to make their wares seem like joyous must-have treatments, while often minimizing lackluster efficacy and risks.
Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News and The New York Times are looking into a dreaded āadultingā milestone: finding your own medical insurance at 26.
Legal maneuvering, industry lobbying, and lax IRS oversight leave lots of room for āoperating surpluses.ā
Even when patients double-check that their care is covered by insurance, health providers often send them bills as they haggle with insurers over reimbursement, which can last for months. Itās stressful and annoying ā but legal.
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