Health Care Costs

Send Us Your Medical Bill Do you have an exorbitant or baffling medical bill? Join the KHN and NPR ‘Bill of the Month’ Club and tell us about your experience. We’ll feature a new one each month. Submit Your Bill What should you do when you get a four-figure hospital bill? Are there any simple […]

Use Our Content This Kaiser Health News story can be republished for free (details). More Stories To Republish The recent school shootings in Florida and Maryland have focused attention on the National Rifle Association’s clout in state and federal lobbying activities. Yet more than the NRA or even Wall Street, it’s the pharmaceutical industry that […]

This story also ran on NPR. This story can be republished for free (details). One July evening, Carol Harnett was in a crosswalk in downtown Portland, Ore., when a driver made an illegal turn and hit her. Transported by ambulance to a hospital, she was diagnosed with a severely sprained right ankle and left wrist, […]

SOBRE NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL Noticias en español es una sección de KFF Health News que contiene traducciones de artículos de gran interés para la comunidad hispanohablante, y contenido original enfocado en la población hispana que vive en los Estados Unidos. Use Nuestro Contenido Este contenido puede usarse de manera gratuita (detalles). El presidente Donald Trump […]

Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). [UPDATED on May 14] President Donald Trump wants to employ a rarely used budget maneuver called “rescission” to eliminate $15 billion in federal spending, including $7 billion from the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Administration officials insist the cuts wouldn’t negatively affect any […]

Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). A sharp cut in breast pump payments by the nation’s second-largest health insurer has prompted a strong reaction from breastfeeding advocates, who warn that some new moms will not get the pumps they need and fewer babies will be breastfed. Starting last month, Anthem Inc. […]

Since Kristen Catton started taking the drug Gilenya two years ago, she’s had only one minor relapse of her multiple sclerosis, following a bout of the flu. She can walk comfortably, see clearly and work part time as a nurse case manager at a hospital near her home in Columbus, Ohio. This is a big […]

This story also ran on NPR. This story can be republished for free (details). This week, I responded to readers who were unhappy with their health plan’s decision not to pay an emergency department surcharge for after-hours care and concerned about difficulties getting Medicare to cover claims unrelated to a workers’ compensation injury. Another reader […]

Use Our Content This story can be republished for free (details). Medicare’s financial condition has taken a turn for the worse because of predicted higher hospital spending and lower tax revenues that fund the program, the federal government reported Tuesday. In its annual report to Congress, the Medicare board of trustees said the program’s hospital insurance […]

  Health care is a big political issue, but no place more than in California. In San Francisco last week, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure upholding a ban on flavored tobacco products — over the vehement objections of the tobacco industry. And the state’s activist attorney general, Xavier Becerra, is leading a group of Democratic […]