Category: Insurance

The Host The formal end May 11 of the national public health emergency for covid-19 will usher in lots of changes in the way Americans get vaccines, treatment, and testing for the coronavirus. It will also change the way some people get their health insurance, with millions likely to lose coverage altogether. Meanwhile, two FDA […]

Dan Weissmann Many people searching for a therapist or psychiatrist turn to the list of in-network providers offered by their insurance plan. But often, many of the doctors on the list don’t take that insurance plan, aren’t accepting new patients, or simply don’t answer the phone. Researchers and journalists call this phenomenon a “ghost network.” […]

Si estás inscrito en Medi-Cal, como más de un tercio de los californianos, asegúrate de que el condado donde vives sepa cómo contactarte, o podrías perder tu cobertura médica sin necesidad. Es probable que en las próximas semanas escuches y veas mensajes públicos instándote a actualizar tu información de contacto. Hazles caso. En algún momento […]

If you are enrolled in Medi-Cal, as more than one-third of Californians are, make sure your county knows how to reach you, or you could lose your health coverage unnecessarily. You will likely hear and see public messages over the coming weeks urging you to update your contact information. Heed them. Then, sometime between now […]

Republican leaders’ banishment of a transgender lawmaker from floor debates in the recently ended Montana legislative session seized the nation’s attention. It also overshadowed significant health policy changes and historic levels of health care spending. The session likely will be remembered for GOP leaders removing Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, one of two transgender representatives in […]

The Host The partisan fight in Congress over how to raise the nation’s debt ceiling to prevent a default has accelerated, as the U.S. Treasury predicted the borrowing limit could be reached as soon as June 1. On the table, potentially, are large cuts to federal spending programs, including major health programs. Meanwhile, legislators in […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Summer Oriyavong first heard the ringing bells and tapping sounds in her head when she was in middle school. Whispering voices and shadowy visions, ones that made her feel superior and special, soon followed. It wasn’t until Oriyavong ran out of her classroom in terror one day that her teachers and parents […]

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Patients as Educators I read, with interest, your article about the difficulties that adults with Down syndrome face in the medical world (“People With Down Syndrome Are Living Longer, but the […]

Katie Beall was diagnosed with breast cancer on March 1, 2022. Two days later, doctors told her the chemotherapy she needed would make her infertile. The next day, she started looking into how she could freeze her eggs, which would give her the option of becoming a mother in the future. Twenty-three days after her […]

It was Labor Day weekend 2021 when Sara Walsh, who was 24 weeks pregnant with twins, began to experience severe lower-back pain. On Wednesday, a few days later, a maternal-fetal specialist near her home in Winter Haven, Florida, diagnosed Walsh with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a rare complication that occurs when fetuses share blood unevenly through […]

The Host Supreme Court justices could act at any moment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Beyond reproductive health, their ruling could carry significant implications for states’ rights and FDA independence and integrity. For now, though, observers are unsure what the court will do — or what exactly prompted justices to again delay their […]

Seven months after Lahavah Wallace’s weight loss operation, a New York bariatric surgery practice sued her, accusing her of “intentionally” failing to pay nearly $18,000 of her bill. Long Island Minimally Invasive Surgery, which does business as the New York Bariatric Group, went on to accuse Wallace of “embezzlement,” alleging she kept insurance payments that […]

Dan Weissmann In 2014, Lisa French had spinal surgery. Before the operation, she was told she would have to pay $1,337 in out-of-pocket costs and that her insurance would cover the rest. However, the hospital ended up sending French a bill for $229,000. When she didn’t pay, it sued her. The case went all the […]

Many of her clients don’t believe it when Maryland tax preparer Diana Avellaneda tells them they might qualify for low-cost health insurance. Or they think she’s trying to sell them something. In reality, she wants to help her customers take advantage of an underused feature of her state’s tax forms that allows them to get […]

[Update: The federal Department of Justice has filed a notice that it intended to appeal the decision.] A federal judge on Thursday overturned a portion of the Affordable Care Act that makes preventive services, such as some cancer screenings, free to enrollees, a decision that could affect health insurance policyholders nationwide. The decision from the […]

Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News and Michelle Andrews Un juez federal anuló el jueves 30 de marzo una parte de la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA) que hace que los servicios preventivos, como algunos exámenes de detección de cáncer, sean gratuitos para los miembros, una decisión que podría afectar a los […]

Victoria Ferrell Ortiz learned she was pregnant during summer 2017. The Dallas resident was finishing up an AmeriCorps job with a local nonprofit, which offered her a small stipend to live on but no health coverage. She applied for Medicaid so she could be insured during the pregnancy. “It was a time of a lot […]

Dan Weissmann Could a charity hospital founded by a crusading Dutch playwright, a group of Quakers, and a judge working undercover become a model for the U.S. health care system? In this episode of the podcast “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Dr. Ricardo Nuila to find out. Nuila’s new book, […]

Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News The Affordable Care Act may be struggling with its own success. Record enrollment over the last two years brought more consumers into the market. At the same time, many insurers began offering smaller networks of doctors and hospitals, partly to be price-competitive. That combination left some patients scrambling to find […]

Stephanie Colombini, WUSF At a health-screening event in Sarasota, Florida, people gathered in a parking lot and waited their turn for blood pressure or diabetes checks. The event was held in Sarasota’s Newtown neighborhood, a historically Black community. Local Tracy Green, 54, joined the line outside a pink-and-white bus that offered free mammograms. “It’s a […]

Keely Larson In between sets of tumbling warmups, Adrienne Prashar crossed the gym to where she had stashed her diabetes supplies and tested her blood sugar. Prashar, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes the day before her 13th birthday, said tumbling usually drops her blood sugar levels. Prashar, now 14, did a finger stick, […]

Andy Miller Emanuel Medical Center in rural Georgia racks up more than $350,000 a month in losses providing health care for low-income and uninsured patients. But a new state funding proposal could significantly reduce those deficits, not just for the 66-bed Swainsboro facility but for most rural hospitals in Georgia, according to state Medicaid officials. […]

Eighteen months after April Adcox learned she had skin cancer, she finally returned to Charleston’s Medical University of South Carolina last May to seek treatment. By then, the reddish area along her hairline had grown from a 2-inch circle to cover nearly her entire forehead. It oozed fluid and was painful. “Honestly, I was just […]

Dieciocho meses después de que April Adcox se enterara de que tenía cáncer de piel, el pasado mes de mayo, regresó por fin a la Universidad Médica de Carolina del Sur en Charleston para recibir tratamiento. Para entonces, la zona rojiza a lo largo de la línea del cabello había pasado de ser un círculo […]

Dieciocho meses después de que April Adcox se enterara de que tenía cáncer de piel, el pasado mes de mayo, regresó por fin a la Universidad Médica de Carolina del Sur en Charleston para recibir tratamiento. Para entonces, la zona rojiza a lo largo de la línea del cabello había pasado de ser un círculo […]

The extra federal money comes through an obscure, complicated mechanism called “directed payments” — available only for states that hire health insurers to deliver services for Medicaid. It’s not Medicaid expansion, which Georgia Republican leaders have rejected. Instead, the state Department of Community Health is using an under-the-radar Medicaid funding opportunity that has been rapidly […]

Eighteen months after April Adcox learned she had skin cancer, she finally returned to Charleston’s Medical University of South Carolina last May to seek treatment. By then, the reddish area along her hairline had grown from a 2-inch circle to cover nearly her entire forehead. It oozed fluid and was painful. “Honestly, I was just […]

At a health-screening event in Sarasota, Florida, people gathered in a parking lot and waited their turn for blood pressure or diabetes checks. The event was held in Sarasota’s Newtown neighborhood, a historically Black community. Local Tracy Green, 54, joined the line outside a pink-and-white bus that offered free mammograms. “It’s a blessing because some […]

In between sets of tumbling warmups, Adrienne Prashar crossed the gym to where she had stashed her diabetes supplies and tested her blood sugar. Prashar, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes the day before her 13th birthday, said tumbling usually drops her blood sugar levels. Prashar, now 14, did a finger stick, saw her […]

The Affordable Care Act may be struggling with its own success. Record enrollment over the last two years brought more consumers into the market. At the same time, many insurers began offering smaller networks of doctors and hospitals, partly to be price-competitive. That combination left some patients scrambling to find an available in-network physician or […]

Dan Weissmann Could a charity hospital founded by a crusading Dutch playwright, a group of Quakers, and a judge working undercover become a model for the U.S. health care system? In this episode of the podcast “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Dr. Ricardo Nuila to find out. Nuila’s new book, […]