Category: HEALTH INSURANCE

Vanessa Garcia Clark wanted a more personal, nontraditional birth when she was pregnant with her son. She hired a midwife and gave birth at her home in California. But when she asked her insurer to reimburse her for the midwifery bill totaling more than $9,500, her claim was denied. In the first installment of InvestigateTV and KHN’s “Costly Care” series, Caresse Jackman, InvestigateTV’s national consumer investigative reporter, explores the different types of midwives — and how not all of them … Continue reading “Watch: In Insurers’ Eyes, Not All Midwives Are Equal”

Se está acabando el tiempo para las vacunas contra covid, los kits de prueba caseros, e incluso algunos tratamientos, gratuitos. La Casa Blanca anunció este mes que la emergencia nacional de salud pública, declarada a principios de 2020 en respuesta a la pandemia, expirará el 11 de mayo. Cuando termine, también lo harán muchas de las políticas diseñadas para combatir la propagación del virus. Hasta ahora, el gobierno federal ha estado comprando vacunas contra covid-19. Recientemente adquirió 105 millones de … Continue reading “Se acaba la era de las vacunas y las pruebas gratuitas contra covid. ¿Quién va a pagar?”

Time is running out for free-to-consumer covid vaccines, at-home test kits, and even some treatments. The White House announced this month that the national public health emergency, first declared in early 2020 in response to the pandemic, is set to expire May 11. When it ends, so will many of the policies designed to combat the virus’s spread. Take vaccines. Until now, the federal government has been purchasing covid-19 shots. It recently bought 105 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent … Continue reading “Era of ‘Free’ Covid Vaccines, Test Kits, and Treatments Is Ending. Who Will Pay the Tab Now?”

The Host Julie Rovner KHN @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KHN’s weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third edition. Health care was a recurring theme throughout President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address on Capitol Hill this week. He took … Continue reading “A Health-Heavy State of the Union”

Centene Corp. has agreed to pay more than $215 million to California over allegations it overcharged the state for pharmacy services — the biggest payout to date by the nation’s largest Medicaid insurer over its drug pricing practices. The agreement announced Wednesday makes California at least the 17th state to settle pharmacy billing claims totaling $939 million with the St. Louis-based insurance giant. Centene reported $144.5 billion in revenue in 2022, up 15% from the previous year. Investigators with the … Continue reading “Centene Agrees to $215 Million Settlement With California for Alleged Medicaid Overbilling”

El presidente Joe Biden pronunció el martes 8 de febrero su discurso sobre el Estado de la Unión ante un Congreso políticamente dividido por primera vez, y pidió soluciones permanentes para las prioridades políticas, como los costos de atención médica inasequibles. A diferencia de sus discursos anteriores, éste fue a Cámara llena, y sin limitaciones por covid-19. Y los legisladores en la audiencia, tanto partidarios como opositores, parecían estar de un humor estridente. PolitiFact verificó una variedad de declaraciones de … Continue reading “Políticas de salud fueron tema prominente en el discurso del Estado de la Unión de Biden”

President Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered his State of the Union address to a politically divided Congress for the first time, calling for permanent fixes on policy priorities like unaffordable health costs. In one marked difference from his earlier speeches, attendance in the House chamber was at capacity with no covid-19 limitations in effect. And the lawmakers in the audience, both supporters and opponents, seemed to be in a raucous mood. Our partners at PolitiFact fact-checked a variety of Biden’s … Continue reading “Health Policies Were a Prominent Theme in Biden’s State of the Union Speech”

After railing at the injustices of U.S. health care for decades, Sen. Bernie Sanders in January became the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee. The job gives the health care industry’s biggest Washington nemesis an unprecedented opportunity to shape health care reform in Congress. But the sort of radical changes he seeks could prove elusive. Even Sanders concedes there are limits to the powers of his position. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address … Continue reading “‘We Ain’t Gonna Get It’: Why Bernie Sanders Says His ‘Medicare for All’ Dream Must Wait”

Los estados se están preparando para remover a millones de personas de Medicaid, a medida que expiran las protecciones que se implementaron al comienzo de la pandemia de covid-19. Este cambio abrupto, que comienza en abril, pondrá a millones de estadounidenses en riesgo de perder la cobertura de salud, amenazando su acceso a la atención y potencialmente exponiéndolos a costosas facturas. También pondrá presión en las finanzas de hospitales, doctores y otros que dependen de los pagos de Medicaid, el … Continue reading “Millones en riesgo de perder Medicaid, mientras terminan protecciones por la pandemia”

States are preparing to remove millions of people from Medicaid as protections put in place early in the covid-19 pandemic expire. The upheaval, which begins in April, will put millions of low-income Americans at risk of losing health coverage, threatening their access to care and potentially exposing them to large medical bills. It will also put pressure on the finances of hospitals, doctors, and others relying on payments from Medicaid, a state-federal program that covers lower-income people and people with … Continue reading “As Pandemic-Era Medicaid Provisions Lapse, Millions Approach a Coverage Cliff”