Action Alert
Register here for Zoom Webinar
“The Pathway to Single Payer Healthcare in California”
August 24, 2023 at 5 pm PT
Sponsors
Courage Campaign, California Alliance for Retired Americans
& Health Care for All-California
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Breaking News in Healthcare Reform
Snippets of news & commentary with a special focus on
health policy, Medicare for All & California
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“Insurers now routinely require doctors to kick back as much as 5% if they want to be paid electronically.”
The Hidden Fee Costing Doctors Millions Every Year
ProPublica | Cezary Podkul | August 14, 2023
“When a preventive service is miscategorized by a plan as diagnostic instead of preventive … the patient may get charged cost sharing for a procedure or service that is supposed to be free.”
Who’s Minding The Shop? Preventive Services Access Turns On Arbitrary Insurance Policies
Health Affairs | Amy Killelea | August 11, 2023
“…those enrolling in Medicare Advantage are on average poorer than those enrolling in traditional Medicare. Advantage enrollees are twice as likely to be people of color, and on average earn less, have lower wealth, and are less likely to live in affluent neighborhoods.”
Medicare Is Quietly Being Privatized. Does Anyone Care?
Marketwatch | Brett Arends | August 11, 2023
“Hospital pharmacists said drug shortages have forced 1 in 3 health systems to delay, cancel or ration care or switch to alternate drugs to continue to treat patients.”
As Drug Shortage List Grows, Many Hospitals Face Tough Decisions on Rationing Care
USA Today | Ken Alltucker | August 10, 2023
“Nearly 4 million seniors reported unpaid medical bills in 2020, even though 98 percent of them had insurance … medical providers and collection agencies [are] relentlessly pursuing seniors for payment on bills that an insurance company has rejected over an error, rather than correcting the error and resubmitting the claim.”
Seniors’ Medical Debt Soars to $54 Billion in Unpaid Bills
The Hill | Daniel De Vise | August 10, 2023
“‘When you are worrying about whether or not your child is going to survive the day, you are constantly living on edge,’ said Christine Crawford, the associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness….”
Parents See Own Health Spiral as Their Kids’ Mental Illnesses Worsen
CBS News | Renuka Rayasam | August 9, 2023
“House Republicans have embedded at least 45 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions into must-pass funding bills — many of which would weaken discrimination protections for same-sex couples or restrict gender-affirming care for adults and minors.”
House Republicans are Adding Dozens of Anti-LGBTQ+ Measures to Must-Pass Bills
The 19th* | Orion Rummler | August 8, 2023
“Hospitals charge commercial health plans two to three times more than what they charge the same insurer’s Medicare Advantage plans for the same procedure….”
Why Insurers Are Paying Double for the Same Procedure in the Same Hospital
Axios | Arielle Dreher | August 7, 2023
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