Health Care Costs

Federal regulators have abandoned a plan that physicians, patients, and advocacy groups for breast cancer patients feared would limit women’s options for reconstructive surgery. The controversy centered on how doctors are paid for a type of breast reconstruction known as DIEP flap, in which skin, fat, and blood vessels are harvested from a woman’s abdomen […]

America’s pharmaceutical giants are suing this summer to block the federal government’s first effort at drug price regulation. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act included what on its face seems a modest proposal: The federal government would for the first time be empowered to negotiate prices Medicare pays for drugs — but only for 10 very […]

Los gigantes farmacéuticos estadounidenses están demandando para bloquear el primer intento del gobierno federal de regular los precios de los medicamentos. La Ley de Reducción de la Inflación del año pasado incluía lo que a primera vista parece una propuesta modesta: el gobierno federal estaría por primera vez habilitado para negociar los precios que Medicare […]

North Carolina hospitals — led by the state’s largest public medical system — have sued thousands of their patients since 2017, according to a new analysis that sheds additional light on the aggressive tactics U.S. hospitals routinely use to collect from people who fall behind on their bills. The report, produced by the state treasurer […]

How did three siblings who took identical ambulance rides (from the same car wreck to the same hospital) end up with three wildly different bills? The answer lies in the No Surprises Act. That law has protected patients from some of the most outrageous out-of-network medical bills since it took effect in 2022 — except […]

“How much is the ice cream?” A simple enough question, featured on a new TV and online advertisement, posed by a man who just wants something cold. A woman behind the counter responds with a smile: “Prices? No, we don’t have those anymore. We have estimates.” The satirical ad pretends to be a news report […]

KFF Health News correspondent Rachana Pradhan discussed a lobbying effort to get Medicare to cover a new class of weight loss drugs on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Aug. 10. Click here to hear Pradhan on “Morning Edition” Read Pradhan’s “Seeking Medicare Coverage for Weight Loss Drugs, Pharma Giant Courts Black Influencers” KFF Health News senior […]

When Mark Finney moved to southwestern Virginia with his young family a decade ago, there were different hospital systems and a range of independent doctors to choose from. But when his knee started aching in late 2020, he discovered that Ballad Health was the only game in town: He went to his longtime primary care […]

With tens of millions of Americans burdened by medical debt, hospitals and other medical providers are increasingly shuttling their patients into loans serviced by banks, credit cards, and other financial services companies. The arrangements have proven very profitable for lenders. But, as KFF Health News reported in November, the rise of the patient financing industry […]

After HCA Healthcare announced this month that the personal identification data of roughly 11 million HCA patients in 20 states had been exposed in a breach, people may be justifiably concerned that their own medical data and identities could be stolen. Consumers should realize that such “medical identity” fraud can happen in several ways, from […]