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Crowded emergency rooms are likely to blame. In 2017, the median ER wait time for patients before admission as inpatients to California hospitals was 336 minutes — or more than 5½ hours.
President Donald Trump called for an end to the "unpleasant surprise" of certain medical bills on Thursday. NPR reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin covered the White House announcement, which featured two patients from the KHN-NPR "Bill of the Month" series.
With mental health beds in short supply, emergency rooms increasingly have become the care of first and last resort for people in the grips of a psychiatric episode. Now, hospitals around the country are opening emergency units that calmly cater to patients with mental health needs.
A proposed state law with bipartisan, bicameral support is on the move in Texas. It would force hospitals and insurers to settle surprise bills — instead of relying on patients to start the mediation process. The KHN/NPR "Bill of the Month" series is a catalyst for the effort.
An animal lover stopped to feed a hungry-looking stray cat outside Everglades National Park in Florida. First, the cat bit her finger — then the hospital billed her close to $50,000 for a treatment that typically costs about $3,000.
Only a small percentage of people who survived an opioid overdose received in the next year some form of drug abuse treatment, according to an analysis of West Virginia Medicaid claims data. Experts say the findings underscore a national disconnect.
In Texas, many people have a right to mediation of medical bills. But the concept can be off-putting, and patients often think they need a lawyer, which isn't the case.
As Austin and other cities across the USA deal with the invasion of e-scooters, injuries mount — along with calls for regulations. The findings from a CDC study may shed light on solutions.
The recent declaration by President Donald Trump that taming unexpected medical bills would be a top priority for his administration echoed through the halls of Congress.
While headlines continue to focus on the nation’s opioid crisis, a growing toll of overdoses and deaths related to methamphetamine use suggests this drug is making an under-the-radar comeback.
In a recent study of patients treated by emergency medical responders in Oregon, black patients were 40 percent less likely to get pain medicine than their white peers. Why?
After a 34-year-old woman suffered a stroke in Kansas, doctors there arranged for her to be transferred to a Boston hospital, via an Angel MedFlight Learjet. The woman and her father believed the cost of the medical flight would be covered by her private insurance. Then they got the bill.
Ski buff Sarah Witter will get $6,358.26 back from her hospital and insurer after a careful review of her bill following the KHN-NPR story on her case.
A crowdsourced investigation in which we dissect, investigate and explain medical bills you send us.
Some legal experts say contract law could provide consumers another avenue to challenge unexpected hospital bills.
She took a bad fall on the slopes and her surgeon used a metal plate to put the splintered bones of her leg back together. When that device failed less than four months later, she and her insurer had to pay full price for the replacement plate.
The Lone Star State is an economic powerhouse, yet it fails to take care of its residents’ health and is home to some of the most extreme entrepreneurial medical practices.
Medical records often contain incorrect information that can lead to inappropriate medical treatment. Patients need to review them on a regular basis and correct any errors that creep in.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don’t have to.
The dialysis industry raised nearly $111 million in a successful bid to defeat the measure, which also was opposed by hospitals and doctors. The union that sponsored the measure collected about one-sixth that amount.
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