Kaiser Health News Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Families With Sick Kids On Medicaid Seek Easier Access To Out-of-State Hospitals

By NPR News April 5, 2021

Vinessa Kirkwood, who lives in northwestern Indiana, said she's had to cancel appointments at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis for her 20-month-old son, Donte, because she can't afford to pay for lodging. CREDIT: Christina Kirkwood

An out-of-state hospital is often the closest, most convenient option for patients and their families and can ensure patients get state-of-the-art care, since only a limited number of hospitals and physicians in the country have the skills and experience to best treat children with certain conditions.Read More

The Pandemic Made Their Relationship Long Distance — From Just A Few Miles Apart

By NWPB News January 26, 2021

Suzan Mubarak visits with her boyfriend, Mitch Domier, from a distance during a weekly drive-by visit outside Mubarak’s group home in Bozeman, Montana, on Dec. 20, 2020. They don’t talk long — that’s saved for their nightly video chats, the only place they see each other's face without a mask. (Louise Johns for KHN)

Suzan Mubarak, 31, and Mitch Domier, 43, live a few miles apart in Bozeman, Mont., but those drive-by visits are the closest the couple has been for nearly 10 months. The coronavirus pandemic largely locked down the homes for adults with developmental disabilities where they each live, limiting them to video chats and the occasional drive-by.Read More

Think Your Health Care Costs Are Covered? Beware The ‘Junk’ Insurance Plan

By NPR News December 4, 2020

Whether you're looking for coverage online or through a broker, be sure to note the difference between a comprehensive health plan and a "junk" plan with limited benefits and coverage restrictions.Read More

Lives Cut Short: Remembering Health Care Workers In Their 20s Killed By COVID-19

By NPR News August 13, 2020

Siblings Jasmine and Josh Obra both tested positive for the coronavirus on the same day. Only one of them survived. Courtesy of the Obra family

While most people who die from COVID-19 are over 65, health care workers who die are often younger. Here are stories of some who died in their 20s, leaving shattered dreams and devastated families.Read More

In Fine Print, HHS Seems To Have Banned Surprise Medical Bills During The Pandemic

By NPR News April 18, 2020

Emergency medical technicians wheel a patient into the ER of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Emergency hospitalizations related to COViD-19 can be costly. Fine print in the HHS rules regarding the CARES Act seem to spare patients at least some of the financial pain. CREDIT: Stan Grossfeld/Boston Globe via Getty Images

Guidance regarding the CARES Act says health care providers who take emergency funds aren't allowed to "balance bill" coronavirus patients ― and every patient is a possible COVID-19 patient.Read More

U.S. Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of Affordable Care Act — Again

By NWPB News March 2, 2020

A view of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, but the decision is not likely until after the 2020 election. The court said it would hear an appeal by 20 mainly Democratic states of a lower-court ruling that declared part of the statute unconstitutional and cast a cloud over the rest.Read More

Several ‘Best’ U.S. Hospitals Penalized Over Too-High Rates Of Infection, Injury

By NPR News January 31, 2020

$Under the law, Medicare is mandated each year to punish the 25% of general care hospitals that have the highest rates of patient safety issues. The assessment is based on rates of infections, blood clots, sepsis cases, bedsores, hip fractures and other complications that occur in hospitals and might have been prevented. Morsa Images/Getty Images$

Medicare is cutting payments to 786 hospitals with the highest infection and complication rates. The list includes a third of the hospitals proclaimed as the nation's "best" in one prominent ranking.Read More

Whistleblower Alleges Fraud At A Large Medicare Advantage Plan In Seattle

By NPR News October 18, 2019

As the Trump administration calls for expanding access to Medicare Advantage, a federal whistleblower lawsuit accuses a large Medicare Advantage plan of bilking Medicare out of $8 million.Read More

Journalists File Lawsuit To Force Feds To Release Medicare Advantage Audits

By NPR News September 27, 2019

Medicare Advantage health plans, mostly run by private insurance companies, have enrolled more than 22 million seniors and people with disabilities — more than 1 in 3 people who are on some sort of Medicare plan. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

A lawsuit filed by Kaiser Health News under the Freedom of Information Act could spur the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to release audits that document up to $650 million in overcharges.Read More

It’s Not Just Insulin: Diabetes Patients Struggle To Get Crucial Supplies

By NPR News September 18, 2019

Ric Peralta and his wife Lisa are both able to check Ric's blood sugar levels at any time, using the Dexcom app and an arm patch that measures the levels and sends the information wirelessly. Allison Zaucha for NPR

Type 1 diabetes can be well managed with insulin if blood sugar is consistently monitored. But insurance rules can make it hard for patients to get the medical supplies their doctors say they need.Read More

Air Ambulances Woo Rural Consumers With Memberships That May Leave Them Hanging

By NPR News September 14, 2019

Visitors and park rangers at historic Fort Scott check out a medevac helicopter operated by Midwest AeroCare during the Kansas town's Good Ol' Days festival. Sarah Jane Tribble/Kaiser Health News

State regulators and even one medevac company have raised doubts about prepaid subscriptions and promised benefits offered by air ambulance companies. Gaps in coverage can be a problem. Read More

Private Medicaid Plans Receive Billions In Tax Dollars, With Little Oversight

By NWPB News October 18, 2018

When one of Jose Nuñez' retinas was damaged by diabetes in 2016, the Los Angeles truck driver expected his Medicaid managed care policy to coordinate treatment. But Centene, the private insurer that manages his policy gave him the runaround, he says, and he lost sight in that eye.

More than two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are enrolled in privately run Medicaid managed care programs. Yet the evidence is thin these contractors improve patient care or save the government money.Read More