Bill of the Month
吃瓜不打烊, in collaboration with The Washington Post, examines and decodes your perplexing medical bills.
Investigations
Priced Out
America鈥檚 Health Insurance Crisis
Common Ground
Americans are split over many issues, but helping people with cancer and other serious illnesses retains broad bipartisan support.
21-40 of 462 results
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Trump鈥檚 $50B Rural Health Bet Meets a Healthcare Desert in North Carolina
Republicans promise that $50 billion in new health funding will help rural America. But it鈥檚 not expected to aid the years-long effort in North Carolina鈥檚 Martin County to reopen its only hospital.
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Amanda Seitz -
Low Wages, Empty Plates, Heavy Toll: Rethinking Suicide Prevention
Decades of research indicate that interventions that bring down people鈥檚 cost of living, such as ensuring they have access to stable housing and food, are linked to lower suicide rates.
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As Ranks of Uninsured Grow, Minnesota鈥檚 Hospitals Are Among Least Charitable in Nation
A Minnesota Star Tribune-吃瓜不打烊 investigation of hospital data and charity care programs shows most Minnesota hospitals provide little financial aid to patients and often make assistance difficult to get.
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She Survived 2 Shootings. Research Helps Explain Why Her聽Pain Persists Years Later.
Witnessing a shooting, hearing gunfire, losing someone, or living in a violent area can leave people with chronic pain and stress long afterward.
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Saving Lives by Changing Lives: The Next Frontier in Suicide Prevention
Someone in America dies by suicide every 11 minutes. It鈥檚 a tragic and entrenched problem. A new approach to prevention shifts the focus from stopping harm in moments of crisis to upstream policies that give people reasons to live.
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An Urgent Care Treated Her Allergic Reaction. An ER Monitored Her 鈥 For $6,700.
A bug bite and an allergic reaction ultimately sent a North Carolina woman to the emergency room, where she had a couple of brief chats with a doctor and a dose of medicine. Now she questions why the charges were so high.
By Andrew Jones -
Big Companies Position Themselves for Payday From $50B Federal Rural Health Fund
A $50 billion federal fund is supposed to modernize rural health with electronic health records, AI, telehealth, and more. But community clinics and rural health advocates fear that the contractors administering the money for states will bite off a big chunk before it reaches rural patients.
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Rural Nebraska Dialysis Unit Closes Despite the State鈥檚 $219M in Rural Health Funding
A rural Nebraska dialysis unit that was hemorrhaging money closed, upending patients鈥 lives. That鈥檚 despite a federal rural health program that granted the state more than $200 million this year to improve health care in rural communities.
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States Pay Deloitte, Others Millions To Comply With Trump Law To Cut Medicaid Rolls
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will add red tape and restrictions for those seeking Medicaid and SNAP benefits. And the costs to update computer systems that determine eligibility for those programs will be steep.
By Samantha Liss and Rachana Pradhan -
Inside the High-Stakes Corporate Fight Over Feeding Preterm Babies
Behind their warm-and-fuzzy marketing, infant formula industry giants Abbott, maker of Similac products, and Mead Johnson, maker of the Enfamil line, have turned neonatal intensive care units into arenas of brutal competition.
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She Owed Her Insurer a Nickel, So It Canceled Her Coverage
When medical bills started rolling in, a teacher鈥檚 aide in Florida wondered why her insurance suddenly wasn鈥檛 covering them. The answer? She owed a balance of 5 cents, so her insurer canceled her policy.
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Give and Take: Federal Rural Health Funding Could Trigger Service Cuts
States are rolling out plans for their share of a $50 billion fund meant to improve rural health care. In some states, the money may provoke rural hospitals to cut services.
By Aaron Bolton, MTPR and Arielle Zionts -
Cosmetic Surgery Investigation Prompts Warnings for Patients, and a Push for Tighter Safety Standards
A national plastic surgeons group is warning people to 鈥渄o their homework鈥 before having liposuctions, Brazilian butt lifts, or other cosmetic procedures after an investigation into cosmetic surgery chains by 吃瓜不打烊 and NBC News.
By Fred Schulte -
Lawmakers, Health Groups Resist Their States鈥 Rural Health Fund Plans
Some Republican state lawmakers and state health associations are pushing back against spending plans under the Trump administration鈥檚 $50 billion federal rural health fund. Federal administrators already approved states鈥 plans, but in many cases, state lawmakers must greenlight spending.
By Arielle Zionts and Sarah Jane Tribble -
He Needs an Expensive Drug. A Copay Card Helped 鈥 Until It Didn鈥檛.
Diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, a California man was prescribed a drug that costs thousands of dollars a month. He said he was reassured that the drugmaker鈥檚 copay card would cover his share, but after two months, the card was empty.
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Wyoming Wants To Make Its Five-Year Federal Rural Health Funding Last 鈥楩orever鈥
State officials believe they鈥檝e found a way to extend the life of federal Rural Health Transformation Program money Wyoming is receiving as part of last summer鈥檚 One Big Beautiful Bill Act 鈥 by investing most of it.
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Alabama鈥檚 鈥楶retty Cool鈥 Plan for Robots in Maternity Care Sparks Debate
Alabama, a state with one of the nation鈥檚 highest infant mortality rates, is betting on robots to help fix its maternal care crisis. But the state鈥檚 plan for telerobotic ultrasounds in rural areas has raised doubts.
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Poison at Play: Unsafe Levels of Lead Found in Half of New Orleans Playgrounds
Verite News鈥 reporters tested soil in more than 80 playgrounds for lead contamination. Even in trace amounts, lead exposure in children can result in lower IQs, learning challenges, and behavioral issues.
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Blurry Line Between Medical and Vision Insurance Leaves Patient With Unexpected Bill
A Wisconsin retiree with glaucoma needed her eyes examined. Her Medicare Advantage plan from UnitedHealthcare listed her optometrist鈥檚 clinic as in-network, but she learned the hard way that a clinic can be in-network and out-of-network at the same time.
By Tony Leys -
This Teen Never Got His Day in Vaccine Court. His Former Lawyer Now Advises RFK on Its Overhaul.
The federal government鈥檚 Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was supposed to help patients with their medical bills while protecting vaccine supply. But allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are routinely transferring cases from that program to launch lawsuits against drugmakers.