SACRAMENTO — Treating patients has become more expensive during the pandemic, and doctors and dentists don’t want to be on the hook for all the new costs. For instance, the box of 100 gloves that cost $2.39 in February 2020 costs $30 now, said Dr. Judee Tippett-Whyte, president of the California Dental Association, who has…
Two national pharmacy chains that the federal government entrusted to inoculate people against covid-19 account for the lion’s share of wasted vaccine doses, according to government data obtained by KHN. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 182,874 wasted doses as of late March, three months into the country’s effort to vaccinate the masses…
Investors who own large shares of nursing home companies now are demanding that the operators improve staff working conditions and the quality of care.
Patricia Denny and her husband, Jeff, had hoped to one day get an RV and travel the country. Instead, Jeff has been forced into retirement at age 54 by a lung disease caused by the asbestos that’s polluted the small town of Libby, Montana, for decades. Jeff Denny’s lungs are damaged from the asbestos he…
Just as other industries are rolling back some consumer-friendly changes made early in the pandemic — think empty middle seats on airplanes — so, too, are health insurers. Many voluntarily waived all deductibles, copayments and other costs for insured patients who fell ill with covid-19 and needed hospital care, doctor visits, medications or other treatment….
A Humana Inc. health plan for seniors in Florida improperly collected nearly $200 million in 2015 by overstating how sick some patients were, according to a new federal audit, which seeks to claw back the money. The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s recommendation to repay, if finalized, would be “by far the largest” audit…
Is it a patient’s responsibility to know if their insurance covers the visit or should the office manager or biller mention it? A friend recently went to an ENT specialist. With the initial office visit the office manager didn’t say anything about requiring a referral. We have all had something happen with our insurance when…
The Biden administration Wednesday formally proposed the repeal of Trump-era regulations barring abortion referrals and making other changes intended to evict Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from the federal family planning program, Title X. The 2019 rules dramatically limited access to these family planning services for many low-income people. In promising to return to the pre-Trump…
“The oldest trick in the book is to say the patients don’t need to be cared for in an expensive hospital setting.”
Granted our high school intern is smarter than most and has a brain for economics but still, we like to see what the younger generation thinks about the cost of healthcare… By Sophie Kowalewski Taking care of your body seems like an easy task, however, it’s not quite that simple. The healthcare market is a…