Health Care Costs

Last year, Jennifer Reisz’s college-age daughter, Megan, was kicked in the chest multiple times by the family’s horse. Megan fell to the ground, unable to move or speak. Though she was alone, her Apple Watch detected her distress and called 911. She was taken to a hospital in Clovis, a city in Fresno County, near […]

Lynn Cooper estaba pasando por un momento difícil. Tras perder su trabajo en 2019, se deprimió profundamente. Luego llegó la pandemia de covid-19 y su ansiedad se disparó. Para colmo, su psicóloga, que se especializa en terapia de pareja y familia, le dijo a Cooper que no podría seguir viéndola cuando cumpliera 65 años y […]

Mary Agnes Carey KFF Health News @maryagnescarey Read Mary Agnes’ stories. In most states, open enrollment for plans on the Affordable Care Act exchange — also known as Obamacare — began Nov. 1 and lasts until Dec. 15, though some states go longer. With premiums expected to increase by a median of 6%, consumers who […]

The share of American consumers with medical debt on their credit reports has declined dramatically over the past year as major credit rating agencies removed small unpaid bills and debts that were less than a year old, according to a new analysis from the nonprofit Urban Institute. At the same time, millions of Americans have […]

Para millones de personas que compran su propio seguro de salud a través del mercado establecido por la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA, popularmente conocida como Obamacare), el final del año trae un ajuste de cuentas: es el momento de comparar beneficios y precios, cambiar a un nuevo plan o inscribirse […]

Readers, beware! There’s a bitter chill in the air and bloodcurdling screams coming from our newsroom. We received more than five dozen spooky submissions to KFF Health News’ fifth annual Halloween haiku contest. Here’s the winner and the top runners-up, illustrated by Oona Tempest. The judges’ favorites were inspired by school nurse shortages and the […]

For millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the end of the year brings a day of reckoning: It’s time to compare benefits and prices and change to a new plan or enroll for the first time. Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 for the ACA’s federal and […]

Christine Rogers of Wake Forest, North Carolina, didn’t hesitate when she was asked to fill out a routine mental health questionnaire during a checkup last November. Her answers on the form led her primary care doctor to ask about depression and her mood, and Rogers said she answered honestly. “It was a horrible year. I […]

Jason Bleak runs Battle Mountain General Hospital, a small facility in a remote Nevada gold mining town that he described as “out here in the middle of nowhere.” When several representatives from private health insurance companies called on him a few years ago to offer Medicare Advantage plan contracts so their enrollees could use his […]

Just 48 hours after her birth in a Seattle-area hospital in 2021, Layla Babayev was undergoing surgery for a bowel obstruction. Two weeks later, she had another emergency surgery, and then developed meningitis. Layla spent more than a month in neonatal intensive care in three hospitals as doctors searched for the cause of her illness. […]