Across the country, Americans are losing their homes, emptying their retirement accounts, and struggling to feed and clothe their families because of medical debt. For two years, KFF Health News and NPR…
Category: Health Care Costs
Watch: She Had a Home and a Good-Paying Job. Then Illness and Debt Upended It All.
Sharon Woodward used to travel the country as a medical technician. She made good money and prided herself on her skills. But in her mid-40s, Woodward retired after being diagnosed with a…
The Drug Company That Prospered Without Creating Any Drugs
[UPDATED on April 18] The new drug looked so promising — except for that one warning sign. At the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting in 2008, Duke University’s Dr. John Sundy…
High Inflation and Housing Costs Force Many Americans to Delay Needed Care
At a health-screening event in Sarasota, Florida, people gathered in a parking lot and waited their turn for blood pressure or diabetes checks. The event was held in Sarasota’s Newtown neighborhood, a…
Montana May Require Insurers to Cover Monitoring Devices for Diabetes
In between sets of tumbling warmups, Adrienne Prashar crossed the gym to where she had stashed her diabetes supplies and tested her blood sugar. Prashar, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes…
The ‘Unwinding’ of Medicaid
The Host Julie Rovner KHN @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KHN’s weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health…
Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Update)
The “An Arm and a Leg” podcast is back. This season, host Dan Weissmann will tell stories about patients finding creative ways to fight back against outrageous bills. This first episode of…
A Baby Spent 36 Days in an In-Network NICU. Why Did the Hospital Next Door Send a Bill?
[UPDATED at 3:45 p.m. ET] Brenna Kearney was seven months pregnant in December 2019 when she experienced what she thought were bad flu symptoms. Her husband, Casey Trumble, drove her from their…
Want a Clue on Health Care Costs in Advance? New Tools Take a Crack at It
Need medical treatment this year and want to nail down your out-of-pocket costs before you walk into the doctor’s office? There’s a new tool for that, at least for insured patients. As…
KHN-NPR’s ‘Bill of the Month’ at 5: A Treasury of Solutions for Confounding Medical Bills
In 2022, readers shared more than 1,000 personal stories of medical billing problems, contributing one patient at a time to an ongoing portrait of the rippling financial consequences of becoming sick or…