After Wiping Out $6.7 Billion in Medical Debt, This Nonprofit Is Just Getting Started
Nonprofit RIP Medical Debt buys up unpaid hospital bills plaguing low-income patients and frees them from having to pay.
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Nonprofit RIP Medical Debt buys up unpaid hospital bills plaguing low-income patients and frees them from having to pay.
Inflation hasn鈥檛 hit Americans like this in decades. And families living with chronic diseases have little choice but to pay more for the medicine, supplies, and food they need to stay healthy.
In pursuit of unpaid bills, nursing homes across Rochester, New York, have been suing relatives and friends of their residents. This CBS News report, done in partnership with a KHN-NPR investigation, takes a look at the practice and tells the stories of some of the people affected.
For more than a century, the drug industry has issued dire warnings of plunging innovation whenever regulation reared its head. In general, the threat hasn鈥檛 materialized.
Under the Medicare drug negotiations provisions in the reconciliation bill, the federal government would see its outlays reduced by about $300 billion. That reduction wouldn鈥檛 result from cuts in benefits. Instead, Medicare would be empowered to leverage its market power to pay lower prices for certain drugs.
A TV and social media ad offers a reason to check on the enforcement of a sweeping rule that requires hospitals to post information about what they charge insurers and cash-paying patients.
Her doctor told her the noninvasive genetic test would be $99. When she called, she was told $250 and if she didn't pay quickly it could be $800.
The federal government is stepping in to assist student loan borrowers. But little public attention has been focused on what is 鈥 statistically, at least 鈥 a bigger, broader debt crisis in our country: An estimated 100 million people in the U.S., or 41% of all adults, are saddled with pernicious health care debt.
KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discusses the Senate Democrats鈥 plans to let Medicare negotiate some drug prices, cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors, and fund enhanced subsides for ACA marketplace health plans.
Debt lawsuits 鈥 long a byproduct of America鈥檚 medical debt crisis 鈥 can ensnare not only patients but also those who help sick and older people be admitted to nursing homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.
After a car wreck, three siblings were transported to the same hospital by ambulances from three separate districts. The sibling with the most minor injuries got the biggest bill.
Health insurers and self-insured employer plans are now required to post their negotiated rates for almost every type of medical service. But navigating through the trove of information is no easy task.
California Healthline senior correspondent Angela Hart describes California鈥檚 ambitious plan to manufacture generic insulin under the state鈥檚 new 鈥淐alRx鈥 drug label.
The Elder Index, developed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, shows that nearly 5 million older women living alone, 2 million older men living alone, and more than 2 million older couples have incomes that make them economically insecure.
Amparo and Victor Rios began searching for answers about their son鈥檚 development when he didn鈥檛 hit some milestones after turning 2. Three years later, they are still trying to get their insurance to pay for expensive therapy to help him.
Families affected by ultra-rare diseases are starting their own companies to speed the development of treatments for their kids, venturing into territory that traditional drugmakers deem too risky.
KHN senior correspondent Noam N. Levey joined WBEZ and Wisconsin Public Radio to talk about medical debt and health care costs in the U.S.
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
The FDA has approved a cannabis-derived drug, Epidiolex, to treat some forms of epilepsy. Now people who have other forms of the condition are using over-the-counter CBD products in hopes of taming their seizures. But doctors and patients worry about the unregulated world of CBD, in which product ingredients can be a mystery.
This episode is an interview with Dr. Thomas Fisher, author of "The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER."
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