Bill of the Month
麻豆女优 Health News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, examines and decodes your perplexing medical bills.
Investigations
Priced Out
America鈥檚 health insurance crisis
Deadly Denials
Prior authorization has become a confusing maze that denies or delays care, burdens physicians with paperwork, and perpetuates racial disparities.
81 - 100 of 417 Results
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He Fell Ill on a Cruise. Before He Boarded the Rescue Boat, They Handed Him the Bill.
A man from Michigan was evacuated from a cruise ship after having seizures. First, he drained his bank account to pay his medical bills.
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Why One New York Health System Stopped Suing Its Patients
Most U.S. hospitals aggressively pursue patients for unpaid bills. One New York hospital system decided to work with them instead.
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Tribal Nations Invest Opioid Settlement Funds in Traditional Healing To Treat Addiction
Hundreds of Native American tribes are getting money from settlements with companies that made or sold prescription painkillers. Some are investing it in sweat lodges, statistical models, and insurance-billing staffers.
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FDA Said It Never Inspected Dental Lab That Made Controversial AGGA Device
Johns Dental Laboratories stopped making the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance last year after a 麻豆女优 Health News-CBS News investigation into allegations of patient harm. The company had 鈥渘ever鈥 reported any complaints about its products to the FDA, according to the agency.
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Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won鈥檛 Have Another.
Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials.
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Three People Shot at Super Bowl Parade Grapple With Bullets Left in Their Bodies
Despite the rise of gun violence in America, few medical guidelines exist on removing bullets from survivors鈥 bodies. In the second installment of our series 鈥淭he Injured,鈥 we meet three people shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade who are dealing with the bullets inside them in different ways.
By Bram Sable-Smith and Peggy Lowe, KCUR -
Sign Here? Financial Agreements May Leave Doctors in the Driver鈥檚 Seat
Agreeing to an out-of-network doctor鈥檚 own financial policy 鈥 which generally protects their ability to get paid and may be littered with confusing insurance and legal jargon 鈥 can create a binding contract that leaves a patient owing.
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FDA Announces Recall of Heart Pumps Linked to Deaths and Injuries
Some pumps used in end-stage heart failure caused a buildup of biological material that blocks blood flow from the device to the heart鈥檚 aorta. The FDA鈥檚 recall affects nearly 14,000 devices.
By Daniel Chang and Holly K. Hacker -
Swap Funds or Add Services? Use of Opioid Settlement Cash Sparks Strong Disagreements
The national opioid settlements don鈥檛 prohibit using money for initiatives already supported by other means, but doing so could dilute the impact.
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The Horrors of TMJ: Chronic Pain, Metal Jaws, and Futile Treatments
TMJ disorders affect as many as 1 in 10 Americans and yet remain poorly understood and ineffectively treated. Many common treatments used by dentists lack scientific evidence.
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Track Opioid Settlement Payouts 鈥 To the Cent 鈥 In Your Community
Want to know how much opioid settlement money your city, county, or state has received so far? Or how much it's expecting in the future? Use our new searchable database to find out.
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A Mom鈥檚 $97,000 Question: How Was Her Baby鈥檚 Air-Ambulance Ride Not Medically Necessary?
There are legal safeguards to protect patients from big bills like out-of-network air-ambulance rides. But insurers may not pay if they decide the ride wasn鈥檛 medically necessary.
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Social Security Chief Testifies in Senate About Plans to Stop 鈥楥lawback Cruelty鈥
Commissioner Martin O鈥橫alley testifies to two Senate panels that his agency will stop the 鈥渋njustices鈥 of suspending people鈥檚 monthly benefits to recover alleged overpayments. The burden will be on the Social Security Administration to prove the beneficiary was to blame.
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They Were Injured at the Super Bowl Parade. A Month Later, They Feel Forgotten.
In the first of our series 鈥淭he Injured,鈥 a Kansas family remembers Valentine鈥檚 Day as the beginning of panic attacks, life-altering trauma, and waking to nightmares of gunfire. Thrown into the spotlight by the shootings, they wonder how they will recover.
By Bram Sable-Smith and Peggy Lowe, KCUR -
Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix 鈥楥ruel-Hearted鈥 Overpayment Clawbacks
New Social Security Commissioner Martin O鈥橫alley is promising to change how the agency reclaims billions of dollars it wrongly pays to beneficiaries, saying the existing process is 鈥渃ruel-hearted and mindless.鈥
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New York Joins Local Governments in Erasing Billions in Medical Debt
New York City is the latest jurisdiction to buy and forgive a backlog of unpaid medical bills for its residents. Local governments across the country, including in the Chicago area, are doing the same to reduce debt burdens for lower-income residents.
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In This Oklahoma Town, Most Everyone Knows Someone Who鈥檚 Been Sued by the Hospital
Hospitals nationwide face growing scrutiny over how they secure payment from patients, but at one community hospital, the debt collection machine has been quietly humming along for decades.
By Mitchell Black and Noam N. Levey -
In Year 6, 麻豆女优 Health News-NPR鈥檚 鈥楤ill of the Month鈥 Helps Patients in a Changing System
In the sixth year of the 麻豆女优 Health News-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 series, patients shared more than 750 tales of medical billing problems, and reporters analyzed more than $730,000 in charges 鈥 including more than $215,000 owed by 12 patients and their families.
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麻豆女优 Health News-CBS News Investigation
鈥楢GGA鈥 Inventor Testifies His Dental Device Was Not Meant for TMJ or Sleep Apnea
The FDA and Department of Justice are investigating the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance, or 鈥淎GGA.鈥 TMJ and sleep apnea patients have filed lawsuits alleging the device harmed them. Its inventor now says the AGGA was never meant for these ailments.
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The Year in Opioid Settlements: 5 Things You Need to Know
In the past year, opioid settlement money has gone from an emerging funding stream for which people had lofty but uncertain aspirations to a coveted pot of billions being invested in remediation efforts. Here are some important and evolving factors to watch going forward.