Category: Health Costs
5 of the most frustrating health insurer tactics and why they exist
Research shows that 1 in 3 Americans seeking care report delaying or forgoing treatment because of the “administrative burdens” of dealing with health insurance and the health care system, creating additional barriers beyond costs.
Response to CEO killing reveals antipathy toward health insurers − but entire patchwork system is to blame for ill feeling
As the public reaction to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has made clear, many Americans are perhaps most unhappy with their health insurers. Indeed, just 31% of Americans have a favorable view of the health insurance industry, according to a 2024 survey.
Work Requirements for Medicaid Could Be Returning as Republicans Take Back the Power
During the first Trump Administration, states were encouraged to submit waiver requests to implement Medicaid work requirements, a decision which signaled the weaponization of the Section 1115 authority as a means of achieving a long-standing Republican policy goal. Ultimately, thirteen such waivers were approved. Federal lawsuits soon followed and stories about how these requirements could impact rural communities began to emerge.
Study: Rural residents more likely to struggle with medical debt
The researchers found that 11.5 percent of white rural residents said they had problems paying medical bills, and 7.6 percent were unable to pay them.
As Nuns Disappear, Many Catholic Hospitals Look More Like Megacorporations
The Catholic Church still governs the care that can be delivered to millions in those hospitals each year, using religious directives to ban abortions and limit contraceptives, in vitro fertilization, and medical aid in dying. But over time, that focus on margins led the hospitals to transform into behemoths that operate for-profit subsidiaries and pay their executives millions. These institutions, some of which are for-profit companies, now look more like other megacorporations than like the charities for the destitute of yesteryear.
Health insurance premiums to rise for WA small businesses by about 12%
This marks the highest increase for small employers in the last decade.
What’s New and What To Watch For in the Upcoming ACA Open Enrollment Period
Current enrollees who do not update their information or select an alternative will be automatically reenrolled in their current plan or, if that plan is no longer available, into a plan with similar coverage.
45 Degrees North: The Rural Cancer Commute
If you come from a rural area, you probably know someone who has had to make that kind of commute for treatment. Who has weighed the cost of gas, food and lodging away from home. Who has learned the back ways around a strange city to avoid road construction or rush hour congestion. Who packed an extra week’s worth of clothes, just in case.
At Catholic Hospitals, a Mission of Charity Runs Up Against High Care Costs for Patients
Catholic health systems like CommonSpirit Health, Ascension, PeaceHealth, Trinity Health, and Providence St. Joseph pay their chief executives millions of dollars a year. CommonSpirit Health’s then-CEO Lloyd Dean earned roughly $28 million in 2022; he was among nearly three dozen executives who pulled down more than $1 million that fiscal year, according to the health system’s tax filings. Elsewhere, Rod Hochman, CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health, earned $12.1 million. Ascension CEO Joseph Impicciche was paid $9.1 million, according to corporate tax filings.
With TV Drug Ads, What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get
One study found that, among top-selling drugs, those with the lowest levels of added benefit tended to spend more on advertising to patients than doctors.
Health News Headlines
Covid cases surge – Measles in Oregon – OTC continuous glucose monitoring – Lower your cholesterol without a statin?
Why Many Nonprofit (Wink, Wink) Hospitals Are Rolling in Money
“Hospitals are some of the biggest businesses in the U.S. — nonprofit in name only,” said Martin Gaynor, an economics and public policy professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “They realized they could own for-profit businesses and keep their not-for-profit status. So the parking lot is for-profit; the laundry service is for-profit; they open up for-profit entities in other countries that are expressly for making money. Great work if you can get it.”
Health News Headlines
Fewer than half of US adults under 50 can readily afford or access healthcare – Misdiagnosis Is A Big Problem For Older Adults – Drugs Used For Weight Loss Help People Stop Smoking – Most Antibiotic Prescriptions For Kids’ Ear Infections Are Too Long – Blood tests for Alzheimer’s diagnosis were 91% accurate in new study
Governments can erase your medical debt for pennies on the dollar — and some are
Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcies in the United States, and more than 2 in 5 American adults have some. Some states and cities will use federal money to forgive millions of dollars of their residents’ medical debt.
Some states back hospital mergers despite record of service cuts, price hikes
In much of the country, a single hospital system now accounts for most hospital admissions.