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Americans overwhelmingly want federal protections against surprise medical bills

Three-quarters of the public — including a majority of Republicans — want the federal government to protect patients from being stuck with surprise medical invoices after they are unwittingly treated by doctors or medical facilities that are out of their insurance network, a poll released Wednesday found.

24 Apr 2019

Experts discover new offshoots of old health policy roots

As political leaders debate the future of the U.S. health care system, a pair of health financing experts discovered that all of the current proposals -- from Medicare for All to "repeal and replace" -- have been circulating in various forms since the 1940s.

2 Apr 2019

For 2020 Dem hopefuls, ‘Medicare-for-all’ is a defining issue, however they define it

Democrats with 2020 presidential aspirations are courting the party's increasingly influential progressive wing and staking out ambitious policy platforms.

19 Feb 2019

Republican and Democratic governors have different visions to transform health care, say researchers

Republican and Democratic governors have strikingly different visions for the future of health care, according to a new analysis published in the American Journal of Public Health.

17 Jan 2019

Insured but still in debt: 5 jobs pulling in $100k a year no match for medical bills

Robert and Tiffany Cano of San Tan Valley, Ariz., have a new marriage, a new house and a 10-month-old son, Brody, who is delighted by his ability to blow raspberries.

28 Dec 2018

AGS expresses concern for future stability of high-quality, affordable health care

As it has since 2016, the American Geriatrics Society again expressed concern for the future stability of high-quality, person-centered, and affordable health care should bipartisan collaboration falter following a federal court ruling last Friday, which jeopardizes important gains under the Affordable Care Act.

21 Dec 2018

Hep C and drug abuse often go hand in hand, but screening for infection lags

When people seek help at a drug treatment center for an opioid addiction, concerns about having contracted hepatitis C are generally low on their list.

19 Dec 2018

Need health insurance? The deadline is Dec. 15

The woman arrived at the University of South Florida's navigator office in Tampa a few weeks ago with a 40-page document describing a short-term health insurance plan she was considering.

10 Dec 2018

Short on federal funding, Obamacare enrollment navigators switch tactics

Enrollment is down sharply on the federal health insurance marketplace this fall, and the consumer assistance groups that help with sign-ups think they know why.

30 Nov 2018

In health insurance wastelands, rosier options crop up for 2019

In recent years, places such as Memphis and Phoenix had withered into health insurance wastelands as insurers fled and premiums skyrocketed in the insurance marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act. But today, as in many parts of the country, these two cities are experiencing something unprecedented: Premiums are sinking and choices are sprouting.

23 Nov 2018

Attention, marketplace shoppers: Don’t delay on 2019 enrollment

Don't procrastinate. Most consumers who buy their own insurance on the federal health insurance marketplace face a Dec. 15 deadline. Advocates are reminding these customers that if they miss the deadline, they may not have a plan that starts in January 2019.

21 Nov 2018

Quick: What’s the difference between Medicare-for-all and single-payer?

Betsy Foster and Doug Dillon are devotees of Josh Harder. The Democratic upstart is attempting to topple Republican incumbent Jeff Denham in this conflicted, semi-rural district that is home to conservative agricultural interests, a growing Latino population and liberal San Francisco Bay Area refugees.

5 Nov 2018

Republicans’ drive to tighten immigration overlooks need for doctors

Dr. Alluri Raju, a native of India, vividly remembers how his ethnicity prompted concern and discrimination in the southwest Georgia town of Richland. Doctors there hesitated to grant the family practitioner and general surgeon privileges to the local hospital when he arrived in 1981.

30 Oct 2018

Gun store owner marshals voters to expand Medicaid in Idaho

Standing outside the gun shop she co-owns, next to her SUV sporting "NRA" on the license plate, Christy Perry pledges full support for President Donald Trump.

26 Oct 2018

Politicians hop aboard ‘Medicare-for-all’ train, destination unknown

After decades in the political wilderness, "Medicare-for-all" and single-payer health care are suddenly popular. The words appear in political advertisements and are cheered at campaign rallies — even in deep-red states.

22 Oct 2018

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ Falling premiums and rising political tensions

The Trump administration announced that, for the first time, the average premium for a key plan sold on the federal health law's insurance marketplaces will fall slightly next year. Federal officials said that changes they have made helped facilitate the reduction, but others argue that it was because more plans are moving back into those federal exchanges and making money.

11 Oct 2018

Fact-check: Who’s right on protections for preexisting conditions? It’s complicated

Ensuring that people with preexisting health conditions can get and keep health insurance is the most popular part of the Affordable Care Act. It has also become a flashpoint in this fall's campaigns across the country.

11 Oct 2018

Spurred by convenience, millennials often spurn the ‘family doctor’ model

Calvin Brown doesn’t have a primary care doctor — and the peripatetic 23-year-old doesn’t want one.

9 Oct 2018

The doctors want in: Democratic docs talk health care on the campaign trail

Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency physician from western Michigan, had never considered running for Congress. Then came February 2017. The 46-year-old Democrat found himself at a local town-hall meeting going toe-to-toe with Rep. Bill Huizenga, his Republican congressman of the previous six years.

27 Aug 2018

Mccain’s complicated health care legacy: He hated the ACA. He also saved it.

There are many lawmakers who made their names in health care, seeking to usher through historic changes to a broken system.