Dollar bill in pill bottle
Health Costs, Health Insurance, Health Policy

Republican Megabill Will Mean Higher Health Costs for Many Americans

Under the legislation Trump’s expected to sign on Friday, Independence Day, reductions in federal support for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces will cause nearly 12 million more people to be without insurance by 2034, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. That in turn is expected to undermine the finances of hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers — which will have to absorb more of the cost of treating uninsured people. Some may reduce services and employees or close altogether

Revlimid
Drugs, Health Costs

The Price of Remission

Revlimid is one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of more than $100 billion. It has extended tens of thousands of lives — including my own.

But Revlimid is also, I soon learned, extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each daily pill. (Although, I later discovered, a capsule costs just 25 cents to make.)

Clipboard with a sheet of paper with "Medicaid" written at the top on a desk with stethoscope and other medical equip ment.
Health Costs, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Politics

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. 

Picture of a doctor standing in a hospital hallway with arms crossed holding a stethoscope
Health Costs, Health Policy

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.

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Cancer, Health Costs, Rural Health, Rural Hospitals

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.

Dollar bill in pill bottle
Health Costs, Health Insurance, Hospitals

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.