Health Care Costs

Joyce Shen was devastated when doctors said her firstborn, Emory, hadn’t passed her newborn hearing screening. Emory was diagnosed with profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears as an infant, meaning sounds are extremely muffled. But Shen and her husband, who live in Ontario, California, faced a horrible situation. Without intervention, they were told, their […]

Cuando fui a hacerme mi mamografía anual en noviembre, el asistente del centro radiológico en Manhattan me hizo una pregunta inesperada: ¿querría pagar $40 para que un programa de inteligencia artificial (IA) la analizara? “El seguro no lo cubre”, aclaró. No tenía idea de cómo evaluar la propuesta. Sentí que me estaban tratando de convencer […]

Former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton spoke out last week on the NBC “Today” show about what she said was a rare pneumonia that almost killed her and resulted in an expensive, monthlong hospital stay. It was a shocking reveal. One key comment jumped out for those who follow health policy: Retton said she was […]

As I checked in at a Manhattan radiology clinic for my annual mammogram in November, the front desk staffer reviewing my paperwork asked an unexpected question: Would I like to spend $40 for an artificial intelligence analysis of my mammogram? It’s not covered by insurance, she added. I had no idea how to evaluate that […]

After Iowa lawmakers passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in March, managers of an LGBTQ+ health clinic located just across the state line in Moline, Illinois, decided to start offering that care. The added services would provide care to patients who live in largely rural eastern Iowa, including some of the hundreds previously […]

A first-of-its-kind survey of people who lost Medicaid coverage last year found just over half made no effort to renew their coverage — in many cases because they were unable to navigate paperwork requirements. The survey sheds light on why millions of beneficiaries nationwide were dropped from the federal-state health insurance program for “procedural reasons.” […]

When KFF Health News published an article in August about the “prior authorization hell” Sally Nix said she went through to secure approval from her insurance company for the expensive monthly infusions she needs, we thought her story had a happy ending. That’s because, after KFF Health News sent questions to Nix’s insurance company, Blue […]

It’s one of the biggest mysteries in health policy: What happened to millions of Americans kicked out of Medicaid last year? A survey conducted for state officials in Utah, obtained by KFF Health News, holds some clues. Like many states, Utah terminated Medicaid coverage for a large share of enrollees whose eligibility was reevaluated in […]

Some hospitals sue patients who can’t afford to pay their medical bills. Such lawsuits don’t tend to bring in much money for the hospital but can really harm patients already experiencing financial hardships. In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” Dan Weissmann goes toe-to-toe with Scott Purcell, CEO of ACA International, a trade […]

In 2023, our nationwide reporting team has been hard at work on a holiday gift to you: a packet of advice for navigating the labyrinthine American medical system. In the sixth year of KFF Health News-NPR’s “Bill of the Month” series, readers shared more than 750 tales of medical billing problems, contributing to our ongoing […]