Category: Health Costs
States try ‘public option’ Obamacare plans to reduce coverage costs
The results so far have been mixed, however. It’s still too early to say whether the states’ public option plans, which are public-private partnerships rather than purely government-run, will significantly lower costs for consumers or pay enough to providers to ensure their continued participation.
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My prescription costs what?!
Pharmacists offer tips that could reduce your out-of-pocket drug costs
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Commentary: The Cost of Care in the Land of Plenty
We don’t talk about it much, but the numbers tell the story plain: about four in 10 adults in America carry medical or dental debt, and rural folks are more likely to struggle with it than people living in urban areas.
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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
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Family and friends shoulder the real cost of dementia − $224B in unpaid care
Our first-of-its-kind estimate of dementia care costs by state also revealed dramatic cost disparities by geography. In the District of Columbia, the average annual cost for a person living with dementia – including both medical spending and the cost of unpaid care – is $37,000, while in West Virginia it is $61,000.
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US health care is rife with high costs and deep inequities, and that’s no accident
A public health historian explains how the system was shaped to serve profit and politicians
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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.)
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Commentary: Rural Americans Need the Trump Administration to Provide an Additional Path to Fight Obesity
The prevalence of obesity among rural Americans is six times higher.
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More than 5M could lose Medicaid coverage if feds impose work requirements
Under an emerging Republican plan to require some Medicaid recipients to work, between 4.6 million and 5.2 million adults ages 19 to 55 could lose their health care coverage, according to a new analysis.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Health insurance premiums to rise for WA small businesses by about 12%
This marks the highest increase for small employers in the last decade.
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