Latest Morning Briefing Stories

Why Home Health Care Is Suddenly Harder To Come By For Medicare Patients

Medicare has changed how it pays for services. In response, agencies across the country are firing therapists, limiting physical, occupational and speech therapy, and terminating services for some longtime, severely ill patients.

Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families

Fewer Americans are dying in a hospital, under the close supervision of doctors and nurses. That trend has been boosted by an expanded Medicare benefit that helps people live out their final days at home in hospice care. But as home hospice grows, so has the burden on families left to provide much of the care.

Loopholes Limit New California Law To Guard Against Lofty Air Ambulance Bills

A new state law limits what consumers owe if they’re transported by an air ambulance that’s not part of their insurance network to the amount that they’d be charged if they used an in-network provider. But the law won’t protect millions of consumers whose health plans aren’t regulated by the state.