Latest California Healthline Stories
Federal Judge Rules Medicare Patients Can Challenge ‘Observation Care’ Status
Hundreds of thousands of people will be able to appeal hospitals’ decisions to classify them as “observation care” patients instead of inpatients, under a ruling last week in a class action suit.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All About Medicare
Before “Medicare for All,” there was just Medicare, the federal program that provides insurance to 60 million Americans. This week, KHN’s Julie Rovner talks to Tricia Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation about how Medicare works and whom it serves. Then, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join Rovner to talk about some current Medicare issues being debated in Washington, D.C.
Class-Action Lawsuit Seeks To Let Medicare Patients Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage
Medicare beneficiaries under observation care in the hospital can face higher costs for treatment and are not covered for nursing home care when discharged. A federal trial in Hartford, Conn., will determine whether the government’s ban on appeals involving observation care coverage is fair.
Even Doctors Can’t Navigate Our ‘Broken Health Care System’
A physician’s frustration navigating a medical emergency with his elderly father reveals a complex, dysfunctional system.
California Hospitals Get A Second Law On Notifying Observation Care Patients
A new federal law requires that hospitals give Medicare patients notice after placing them under observation, along with the reason why they were not officially admitted. In California, it comes on top of a state law that requires quicker notice for all observation patients but does not oblige hospitals to explain their decision not to admit.