2022-12-17 Squeezed by Temp Nurse Costs, Hospital Systems Create Their Own Staffing Agencies Andy Miller Like many nurses these days, Alex Scala got a big pay hike when she switched jobs recently. Scala also received a welcome mix of assignments when she joined Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network. She signed on with a newly […]
Category: Health News
States and Drug Imports From Canada
2022-12-16 States Challenge Biden to Lower Drug Prices by Allowing Imports From Canada Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News The Biden administration is facing mounting pressure from states to let them import medicine from Canada to help lower prescription drug costs. Colorado on Dec. 5 became at least the fourth state to seek federal […]
Medicare Advantage and Overcharging
2022-12-15 How Medicare Advantage Plans Dodged Auditors and Overcharged Taxpayers by Millions Fred Schulte, Kaiser Health News and Holly K. Hacker In April 2016, government auditors asked a Blue Cross Medicare Advantage health plan in Minnesota to turn over medical records of patients treated by a podiatry practice whose owner had been indicted […]
Optimism and Your Health
2022-12-14 Are You an Optimist? Could You Learn to Be? Your Health May Depend on It. Judith Graham When you think about the future, do you expect good or bad things to happen? If you weigh in on the “good” side, you’re an optimist. And that has positive implications for your health in […]
Fed Health Fraud System Broken
2022-12-13 KHN Investigation: The System Feds Rely On to Stop Repeat Health Fraud Is Broken Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News and Lauren Weber The federal system meant to stop health care business owners and executives from repeatedly bilking government health programs fails to do so, a KHN investigation has found. That means […]
Paxlovid Sticker Shock
2022-12-12 Paxlovid Has Been Free So Far. Next Year, Sticker Shock Awaits. Hannah Recht Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people infected with covid-19 from being hospitalized or dying, and it may even reduce the risk of developing […]
Sickle Cell Disease and Reproductive Justice
2022-12-11 For Patients With Sickle Cell Disease, Fertility Care Is About Reproductive Justice Farah Yousry, Side Effects Public Media Teonna Woolford has always wanted six kids. Why six? “I don’t know where that number came from. I just felt like four wasn’t enough,” said Woolford, a Baltimore resident. “Six is a good number.” […]
States Consider Extending PostPartum Medicaid Coverage
2022-12-10 More States to Consider Extending Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Beyond Two Months Matt Volz Lawmakers in several conservative-led states — including Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi — are expected to consider proposals to provide a year of continuous health coverage to new mothers enrolled in Medicaid. Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide are guaranteed continuous postpartum […]
Employers and Patient Assistance Programs
2022-12-08 Employers Use Patient Assistance Programs to Offset Their Own Costs Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News Anna Sutton was shocked when she received a letter from her husband’s job-based health plan stating that Humira, an expensive drug used to treat her daughter’s juvenile arthritis, was now on a long list of medications considered […]
They Trusted Their Prenatal Test. They Didn’t Know the Industry Is an Unregulated “Wild West.”
They Trusted Their Prenatal Test. They Didn’t Know the Industry Is an Unregulated “Wild West.” by Anna Clark, Adriana Gallardo, Jenny Deam and Mariam Elba ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Amanda wanted to warn someone. In June […]