Most legislators are not especially known for thinking outside the box. It’s telling that today, so many different approaches for health care are being bounced around. Check out this week’s News Roundup featuring some legislators’ latest and greatest ideas, ranging from Medicare-for-Some to Medicare-for-All. […]
Years after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans remain uninsured, and even more are underinsured. In the absence of effective healthcare reform at the federal level, states and even cities are stepping up with solutions of their own. SAN […]
Words matter! When politicians talk about “Medicare for All,” what do they actually mean? 1.) Are they talking about giving Traditional Medicare to everybody? 2.) Or are they talking about improving Medicare, and then expanding it to us all? If you guessed “2,” you’d […]
Thanks to tricks by the pharmaceutical trade, like rebate traps, stacked formularies and other market-tampering strategies, patients, health plans and insurers unnecessarily pay more for medicine. Lisa Crook was lucky. She saved $800 last year after her insurance company started covering a new, less […]
AG Xavier Becerra has been a single-payer advocate all his life. The child of immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico, he shared a one-room apartment in Sacramento with his parents and three sisters. When President Donald Trump demands a border wall or threatens to deport young unauthorized immigrants, […]
In this era of underinsurance and high deductibles, better make sure it’s an actual emergency before calling 911. Problem is, it’s sometimes hard to tell. . . Matt Gleason had skipped getting a flu shot for more than a decade. But after suffering a nasty bout of […]
Nonprofit hospital fundraising practices (including “nightly patient wealth screenings”) reveal mindset that preferences patients based on likelihood of donations. Nonprofit hospitals across the United States are seeking donations from the people who rely on them most: their patients. Many hospitals conduct nightly wealth screenings — using software that […]
Wonder why one hospital charges $59 for a blood panel and another – only 15 miles away – charges over $525? You’ll need an advanced degree to figure it out. The federal government’s new rule requiring hospitals to post prices for their services is intended […]
Why do Europeans enjoy access to medicines that are up to 80% cheaper than in the US? US pharmaceutical companies stifle competition with “rebate traps,” “bundled pricing” and “patent thickets.” – Europeans have found the secret to making some of the world’s costliest medicines much more […]