Health Care Costs

Last June, Jay Comfort flew to the United States from his home in Switzerland to attend his only daughter’s wedding. But the week before the ceremony — on a Friday evening — Comfort said he found himself in “excruciating pain.” “I tried to gut it out for three hours because of the insurance situation,” said […]

“We pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, in some cases 10 times more than the people of any other country.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in an April 30, 2023, interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whether in Congress or as a presidential candidate, has […]

Brenda Powell had suffered a stroke and was in debilitating pain when she called the Social Security Administration last year to seek disability benefits. The former Louisiana state office worker struggled at times to write her name or carry a glass of water. Powell, then 62, believed she could no longer work, and she was […]

For two decades, patients and physicians eagerly awaited a lower-cost version of the world’s bestselling drug, Humira, while its maker, AbbVie, fought off potential competitors by building a wall of more than 250 patents around it. When the first Humira biosimilar — essentially a generic version — finally hit the market in January, it came […]

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.” So, who […]

La administración Biden advirtió a los estadounidenses sobre los crecientes riesgos de las tarjetas de crédito médicas y otros préstamos para pagar facturas médicas, advirtiendo en un nuevo informe que las altas tasas de interés pueden profundizar las deudas de los pacientes y amenazar su seguridad financiera. La Oficina de Protección Financiera del Consumidor estimó […]

The Biden administration on Thursday cautioned Americans about the growing risks of medical credit cards and other loans for medical bills, warning in a new report that high interest rates can deepen patients’ debts and threaten their financial security. In its report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that people in the U.S. paid $1 […]

When Glenn Janssen decided to file a claim for disability benefits with the Veterans Affairs Department last year, he dreaded the prospect of dealing with federal bureaucracy and paperwork. Janssen, 57, lives in Portugal with his wife and has worked as a government contractor since leaving the Army in 2004. The Gulf War-era and Louisiana […]

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 […]