By Joanne Kenen June 30, 2009 This story is a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post. Doctors call them frequent fliers. They are the patients who leave the hospital, only to boomerang back days or weeks later. They have become a front-burner challenge not only for hospitals and doctors but also for [...]
By Eric Pianin – Kaiser Health News June 25, 2009 From the beginning, President Barack Obama and his top advisers have sought to portray health care reform not just as another costly entitlement for the poor, but as part of a larger effort to ease the burden of mounting medical costs for the middle class. [...]
By Jenny Gold, Eric Pianin and Julie Appleby – Kaiser Health News June 22, 2009 Democrats, desperately looking for ways to pay for their increasingly expensive health care legislation, are scrutinizing a raft of ideas to raise funds and cut costs–including some that have been rejected in the past. One indication of the challenge: House [...]
An Ad Audit: “What if?” “Ad Audit” is KHN’s new feature examining advertising campaigns designed to influence the health reform debate. In this campaign, called “What If?”, Health Care for America Now, an advocacy group funded by unions and other organizations favoring major health care changes, pushes one of the most contentious elements of the [...]
By Andrew Villegas – Kaiser Health News June 17, 2009 Three former Senate majority leaders today unveiled a bipartisan health care reform package that would tax health benefits and includes individual and employer mandates. The price tag for the plan outlined by Democrat Tom Daschle, and Republicans Bob Dole and Howard Baker is estimated at [...]
By Mary Agnes Carey – Kaiser Health News With the Democratic-controlled Congress working on a potentially sweeping health care overhaul, questions abound for consumers, including whether they might have to change their insurance or buy coverage if they don’t have it. Here’s a guide to the top issues: Q: I don’t have insurance. Will I have [...]
Kaiser Health News Report By Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin JUN 11, 2009 Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and other Democratic leaders are targeting more than a dozen moderate and conservative Republicans as they pursue a bipartisan deal to extend health care coverage to nearly 46 million uninsured Americans. Baucus signaled his willingness [...]
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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