Watch out for huge medical bills if you visit the emergency room and are enrolled in a commercial health plan. They are common, and Kaiser Health News reports that these bills are often permissible...
Diane Archer
Hospital upcharges for prescription drugs provides further...
A new report by Pharma, the trade association for drug manufacturers, looks at hospital upcharges for prescription drugs and provides further justification for federal government drug price...
Medicare’s bundled payments reduce hospital costs
A study of Medicare’s payment innovation to rein in costs while promoting quality care shows that it is working. With authority through the Affordable Care Act to test new ways of paying...
Pharma suit dismissed in California: State can require notice of...
Ed Silverman reports for StatNews that a federal judge in California dismissed a Pharma lawsuit which attempted to block a state consumer protection law. The law requires drug makers to disclose...
Why you might want a female doctor
Tara Parker-Pope writes for the New York Times that people who have a female doctor appear to have better health outcomes. The evidence from several studies suggest that it could be that both men...
Drug costs: A big chunk of your insurance premium
A new article in Health Affairs reports that drug costs at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a commercial insurance company, account for 25 percent of its total spending on health care. That means drug...
Why you should ask your doctor if you can review your medical...
If you’re like most of us, you’ve never seen the notes your doctors take during a visit. So, it’s hard to imagine what happens when doctors share their notes. It turns out to be a...
Insurers drive up costs for people with diabetes
The Hill has an opinion piece on a new way that insurers are increasing their profits. Insurers drive up costs for people with diabetes, making it harder for them to get needed care. Instead of...
Governors’ association says US should break drug patents...
The National Governors Association (NGA), a conservative body, has issued a report in support of compulsory licensing for high-priced drugs, writes Nicholas Florko for IWP News. In simple English...
State blocks doctor from offering low-cost MRIs
Could it be possible that a state would block a doctor from offering low-cost MRIs? Dylan Scott reports for Vox that North Carolina is doing just that to Dr. Gajendra Singh. The state law effectively...