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KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Why health care is so expensive, chapter $22K

Congress appears to be making progress on its huge social spending bill, but even if it passes the House as planned the week of Nov. 15, it's unlikely it can get through the Senate before the Thanksgiving deadline that Democrats set for themselves.

11 Nov 2021

Researcher: Medicare Advantage plans costing billions more than they should

Switching seniors to Medicare Advantage plans has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars more than keeping them in original Medicare, a cost that has exploded since 2018 and is likely to rise even higher, new research has found.

11 Nov 2021

Medicare’s open enrollment is open season for scammers

Finding the best private Medicare drug or medical insurance plan among dozens of choices is tough enough without throwing misleading sales tactics into the mix.

11 Nov 2021

Medicare enrollment blitz doesn’t include options to move into Medigap

Medicare's annual open-enrollment season is here and millions of beneficiaries — prompted by a massive advertising campaign and aided by a detailed federal website — will choose a private Medicare Advantage plan.

9 Nov 2021

Substance use, high alcohol consumption may increase the risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation

Using methamphetamines, opiates, cocaine and cannabis, as well as acute alcohol consumption (alcohol consumption within a week preceding an atrial fibrillation event) may increase the risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2021.

8 Nov 2021

Research: Less than 10% of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure get cardiac rehabilitation

Cardiac rehabilitation enrollment rose among adults with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction after Medicare started covering it in 2014, yet overall enrollment among Medicare beneficiaries remains very low – less than 10% of those eligible according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2021.

8 Nov 2021

Middlemen take home almost 53% of the net proceeds from insulin sales, finds study

Despite its discovery nearly 100 years ago, insulin's list price has been going up, not down, with trade secrets and other protections preventing researchers from pinpointing who is receiving profits from its sale.

7 Nov 2021

Despite restraints, democrats’ drug pricing plan could still aid consumers

The Medicare prescription drug pricing plan Democrats unveiled this week is not nearly as ambitious as many lawmakers sought, but they and drug policy experts say the provisions crack open the door to reforms that could have dramatic effects.

5 Nov 2021

Democrats plan to expand Medicare hearing benefits. What can consumers expect?

President Joe Biden's mammoth domestic spending bill would add hearing benefits to the traditional Medicare program — one of three major new benefits Democrats had sought.

5 Nov 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Compromise is coming — maybe

Democrats on Capitol Hill hope they are nearing the finish line in their months-long quest to enact President Joe Biden's social spending agenda.

4 Nov 2021

Few acute care hospitals escaped readmissions penalties

Preventable rehospitalization of the nation's older adults has proved a persistent health and financial challenge for the U.S., costing Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

4 Nov 2021

The Connection between High-sensitivity Troponin and Heart Attacks

This interview outlines the connection between high-sensitivity troponin and heart attacks.

From Siemens Healthineers 1 Nov 2021

If Congress adds dental coverage to Medicare, should all seniors get it?

William Stork needs a tooth out. That's what the 71-year-old retired truck driver's dentist told him during a recent checkup.

29 Oct 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden social-spending ‘framework’ pulls back on key health pledges

President Joe Biden unveiled a purported compromise on his social-spending plan shortly before taking off for a series of meetings in Europe.

28 Oct 2021

Medicare punishes 2,499 hospitals for high readmissions

The federal government's effort to penalize hospitals for excessive patient readmissions is ending its first decade with Medicare cutting payments to nearly half the nation's hospitals.

28 Oct 2021

Democrats’ plans to expand Medicare benefits put pinch on advantage plans’ funding

"Did you think we wouldn't notice?" an older woman says, speaking into the camera. "You thought you could sneak this through?" an older man later adds. Others warn that Washington is "messing with" their Medicare Advantage health coverage and trying to raise their premiums.

28 Oct 2021

Medicare plans’ ‘free’ dental, vision, hearing benefits come at a cost

When Teresa Nolan Barensfeld turned 65 last year, she quickly decided on a private Medicare Advantage plan to cover her health expenses.

27 Oct 2021

Pharma campaign cash delivered to key lawmakers with surgical precision

The Biden administration and Congress are embroiled in high-stakes haggling over what urgent priorities will make it into the ever-shrinking social spending bill.

27 Oct 2021

How billing turns a routine birth into a high-cost emergency

Caitlin Wells Salerno knew that some mammals — like the golden-mantled ground squirrels she studies in the Rocky Mountains — invest an insane amount of resources in their young. That didn't prepare her for the resources the conservation biologist would owe after the birth of her second son.

27 Oct 2021

Analysis: A procedure that cost $1,775 in New York was $350 in Maryland. Here’s why.

For the past 18 months, while I was undergoing intensive physical therapy and many neurological tests after a complicated head injury, my friends would point to a silver lining: "Now you'll be able to write about your own bills." After all, I'd spent the past decade as a journalist covering the often-bankrupting cost of U.S. medical care.

26 Oct 2021