Health Care Costs

Insurance agent Cindy Holtzman was a little surprised by the notice from Bright HealthCare, one of the insurers that offer Affordable Care Act coverage in her area. The company’s February note said its health plan sign-ups saw “extraordinary growth” — passing the “one-million-member mark” in the previous year — and tied that success to the […]

¿California se está volviendo más estricto con los planes de salud que participan en Medi-Cal, el programa de salud del estado para residentes de bajos ingresos? Hace unas semanas, los reguladores estatales impusieron una multa récord de $55 millones a L.A. Care, el plan de atención administrada de Medi-Cal más grande de California, por no […]

Korra Elliott has tried to avoid seeing a doctor while waiting to get on Medicaid. She worries she can’t afford more bills without any insurance coverage. But in early March — five months, she said, after applying and with still no decision about her application — a suspected case of the flu sent her blood […]

Is California getting tougher on health plans that participate in Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for low-income residents? A few weeks ago, state regulators imposed a record $55 million in fines on L.A. Care, California’s largest Medi-Cal managed-care plan, for failing to ensure adequate care and allowing treatment delays that threatened enrollees’ health. Patient advocates […]

The chances of passing election-year legislation to help people afford insulin — which weeks ago seemed mired in political fighting — are looking brighter as a bipartisan effort to tackle the issue takes root in the Senate. That effort is still in the early stages, but it is moving forward with the support of Senate […]

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Americans get sued over medical debt. A lot. And — no surprise — many folks getting sued can’t afford lawyers.  But for a non-lawyer to give even basic advice in a lawsuit is a crime. Such a helper could […]

Sean Deines and his wife, Rebekah, were road-tripping after he lost his job as a bartender when the pandemic hit. But while visiting his grandfather in a remote part of Wyoming, Sean started to feel very ill. Rebekah insisted he go to an urgent care center in Laramie. “‘Your white blood count is through the […]

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Click here for a transcript of the episode. The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, turned 12 this week, in spite of efforts to repeal it through both […]

Los pacientes ya no están obligados a pagar por la atención médica que hayan recibido por fuera de la red de su plan de salud sin su consentimiento, al ser tratados en hospitales que están dentro de su cobertura. Esto es así desde que entró en vigencia una ley federal a principios de este año. […]

Patients are no longer required to pay for out-of-network care given without their consent when they receive treatment at hospitals covered by their health insurance since a federal law took effect at the start of this year. But the law’s protections against the infuriating, expensive scourge of surprise medical bills may be only as good […]