Health Care Costs

(Hannah Norman/KHN) Born with a congenital heart defect and other medical issues, Sterling Raspe lived just eight months. In that time, she needed dozens of medical procedures and often required round-the-clock care in the neonatal intensive care unit. At one point, her parents were told they owed $2.5 million for her care. “It’s an offensive […]

Frankie Cook remembers last year’s car crash only in flashes. She was driving a friend home from high school on a winding road outside Rome, Georgia. She saw standing water from a recent rain. She tried to slow down but lost control of her car on a big curve. “The car flipped about three times,” […]

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. Beware cataract surgery price-gouging: Private equity groups are scooping up eye care physician practices nationwide as money-making opportunities grow in medical eye care. By @LaurenWeberHP #healthcare @FortuneMagazine https://t.co/M2Ih4EZibA via @khnews — […]

PROSPER, Texas — Almost everything about the opening of the 2019 Prosper High School Eagles’ football season was big. The game in this Dallas-Fort Worth suburb began with fireworks and a four-airplane flyover. A trained eagle soared over the field. And some 12,000 fans filled the team’s new stadium, a $53 million colossus with the […]

Peggy Dula is as surprised as she is relieved. The 55-year-old resident of St. Charles, Illinois, had been fighting a $2,700 ambulance bill for nearly a year. Now, the amount she owes from her September 2021 car wreck appears to be zero. This summer, KHN, NPR, and CBS News spotlighted Dula in the Bill of […]

The day after his 8-month-old baby died, Kingsley Raspe opened the mail and found he had been sent to collections for her care. That notice involved a paltry sum, $26.50 — absurd really, given he’d previously been told he owed $2.5 million for treatment of his newborn’s congenital heart defect and other disorders. Raspe and […]

“With Proposition 1, the number of abortion seekers from other states will soar even higher, costing taxpayers millions more.” California Together, No on Proposition 1, on its website, Aug. 16, 2022 California Together, a campaign led by religious and anti-abortion groups, is hoping to persuade voters to reject a ballot measure that would cement the […]

POMONA, Calif. — When you first meet 17-month-old Aaron Martinez, it’s not obvious that something is catastrophically wrong. What you see is a beautiful little boy with smooth, lustrous skin, an abundance of glossy brown hair, and a disarming smile. What you hear are coos and cries that don’t immediately signal anything is horribly awry. […]

Pomona, California.- Cuando conoces por primera vez a Aaron Martinez, de 17 meses, no es evidente que algo está catastróficamente mal. Lo que ves es un hermoso niño pequeño con piel suave y brillante, abundante cabello castaño y una sonrisa cautivadora. Lo que escuchas son arrullos y gritos que no indican de inmediato que hay […]

ST. LOUIS — Christina Green hoped cataract surgery would clear up her cloudy vision, which had worsened after she took a drug to fight her breast cancer. But the former English professor said her 2019 surgery with Ophthalmology Consultants didn’t get her to 20/20 vision or fix her astigmatism — despite a $3,000 out-of-pocket charge […]