Health Care Costs

Latest California Healthline Stories

An Arm and a Leg: Don’t Get ‘Bullied’ Into Paying What You Don’t Owe

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Caitlyn Mai, a woman in Oklahoma who received a six-figure bill for a surgery her insurance promised to cover. This episode is an extended version of the “Bill of the Month” series, produced in partnership with NPR.

Patient Underwent One Surgery but Was Billed for Two. Even After Being Sued, She Refused To Pay.

A collection agency sought court authority to garnish a patient’s wages to pay a disputed surgery bill. But after the patient showed up in court to argue the bill was bogus, the judge declined to let the bill collector seize her money.

Amid Medicaid ‘Unwinding,’ Many States Wind Up Expanding

The end of pandemic-era Medicaid coverage protections coincided with changes in more than a dozen states to expand coverage for lower-income people, including children, pregnant women, and the incarcerated.

New Lines of Attack Form Against the Affordable Care Act

While fighting potential fraud in government programs has long been a conservative rallying cry, recent criticisms of the Affordable Care Act represent a renewed line of attack on the program when repealing it is unlikely.

Watch: How Patients Get Charged Hospital Prices for Doctor’s Office Care

This installment of InvestigateTV and KFF Health News’ “Costly Care” series digs into patients’ getting charged hospital prices for doctor’s office care. For five years, a patient got the same injection from the same office. Then it changed how it billed and she owed more than $1,100 for one treatment.

How Little Denmark Got Homegrown Giant Novo Nordisk To Lower Ozempic Prices

As Congress pushes for Medicare to cover payment for anti-obesity drugs, Denmark — Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk’s home — has limited coverage of the drug after cost overruns “emptied all the money boxes in the entire public health system.