Latest California Healthline Stories
Journalists Dig In on the Fiscal Health of the Nation and Hospital Closures in Rural Missouri
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Genetic Tests Create Treatment Opportunities and Confusion for Breast Cancer Patients
Doctors are divided on whether blanket testing of breast cancer patients is warranted, since scientists and physicians are sometimes unsure about how to interpret the results.
La última década ha sido testigo de una rápida expansión de las pruebas genéticas. Pero, ¿cuál es su real relevancia clínica?
Court Ruling May Spur Competitive Health Plans to Bring Back Copays for Preventive Services
The Affordable Care Act required that health insurers provide many medical screenings and prevention services at no out-of-pocket cost to health plan members. But insurers and employers may consider adding cost sharing for preventive services now that a federal court ruled the ACA’s mandate is unconstitutional.
Many Preventive Medical Services Cost Patients Nothing. Will a Texas Court Decision Change That?
A federal judge in Texas issued a decision this week that affects the Affordable Care Act. It says one way that preventive services are selected for no-cost coverage is unconstitutional.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Judge Takes Aim at the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Care Benefits
A federal judge in Texas — the same one who tried to strike down the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional in 2018 — has ruled against some of the ACA’s preventive benefits, including the requirement that employers cover medication to prevent HIV. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs tries to make abortions slightly more available to veterans and their dependents. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Lauren Sausser, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment.
‘Free’ Screening? Know Your Rights to Get No-Cost Care
Even a decade in, the Affordable Care Act’s recommendations to simply cover preventive screening and care without cost sharing remain confusing and complex.
Preventive Care May Be Free, but Follow-Up Diagnostic Tests Can Bring Big Bills
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers cannot charge consumers for various preventive services that have been recommended by experts. But if those screenings indicate more testing is needed to determine whether something is wrong, patients may be on the hook for hundreds or even thousands of dollars for diagnostic services.
Her First Colonoscopy Cost Her $0. Her Second Cost $2,185. Why?
Preventive care, like screening colonoscopies, is supposed to be free of charge to patients under the Affordable Care Act. But some hospitals haven’t gotten the memo.
Betting on ‘Golden Age’ of Colonoscopies, Private Equity Invests in Gastro Docs
An aging population in need of regular cancer screenings has driven private equity companies, seeking profits, to invest in many gastroenterology practices and set up aggressive billing practices. Steep prices on routine tests are one consequence for patients.