health insurance

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Pandemic Wipes Out Insurance in Record Numbers

About 5.4M people lost coverage from February to May

(Newser) - Over the course of a year from 2008 to 2009, an estimated 3.9 million laid-off workers lost their health insurance in the recession. That was an annual record at the time, but the pandemic already has shattered it, reports the New York Times . An assessment by the nonpartisan group...

Major Insurer Won't Charge Patients for Coronavirus Stays

Aetna's move applies to 3.6M Americans

(Newser) - One of the nation's biggest health insurers is waiving patient payments for hospital stays tied to the coronavirus. CVS Health's insurer Aetna said Wednesday that many of its customers will not have to make co-payments or other forms of cost sharing if they wind up admitted to a...

Several States Reopen ObamaCare Enrollment

Federal government is considering a similar move

(Newser) - Several states that run their own ObamaCare exchanges have reopened enrollment to make it easier for people who have lost their jobs to get health insurance. So far, 11 states have done so, reports the New York Times . The bigger question is whether the federal government—which runs the exchange...

Supreme Court Declines to Fast-Track ObamaCare Review

Trump, red states had asked the high court to decline Democrats' request, and it did

(Newser) - The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to consider a fast-track review of a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, making it highly unlikely that the justices would decide the case before the 2020 election, the AP reports. The court denied a request by 20 mainly Democratic states and the...

She Had a Routine Throat Swab. The Bill Was $28K
She Had a Routine Throat
Swab. The Bill Was $28K
in case you missed it

She Had a Routine Throat Swab. The Bill Was $28K

NPR looks at a particularly outrageous medical bill of a Brooklyn woman

(Newser) - NPR puts the focus on crazy medical bills in its "Bill of the Month" feature, and the latest is a doozy. A Brooklyn woman felt a cold coming on ahead of her vacation and went to the doctor to make sure it wasn't strep. She had a...

Insurance Horror Story, With Bill of $898,984.57
Insurance Horror Story,
With Bill of $898,984.57
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Insurance Horror Story, With Bill of $898,984.57

Dignity Health stuck new mom with bill for preemie, until ProPublica asked questions

(Newser) - ProPublica may have saved a young family from financial ruin while illustrating the harsh realities of today's health insurance landscape. The story is about 30-year-old Lauren Bard, a nurse at a hospital in San Bernardino, Calif., who gave birth to a baby some three and a half months...

Man Who Murdered 4 in His Family Found Not Guilty

Lovequawn Scott was mentally ill at the time, court says

(Newser) - A South Carolina man who murdered four family members was found not guilty Friday by reason of insanity, WCSC reports. In a bench trial, Jennifer Kneece Shealy of the Ninth Circuit's Solicitor's Office said Lovequawn Scott was clearly ill and had been refused help at a mental health...

There's a Sign ObamaCare's Coverage Gains May Be Eroding

Share of uninsured Americans rises for first time in a decade

(Newser) - The number of Americans without health insurance edged up in 2018—the first evidence from the government that coverage gains from President Obama's health care plan might be eroding under President Trump, the AP reports. The Census Bureau also said in an annual report Tuesday that household income rose...

She'd Helped This Teen Before. This Time, the Cops Came

School superintendent charged with fraud after using health insurance to help sick student

(Newser) - An Indiana school superintendent who says she was worried about a sick student was hit with fraud charges after cops say she used her insurance to get medical treatment and meds for him. Per KTXL , court records say 48-year-old Casey Smitherman picked up the 15-year-old, who had a sore throat,...

Bombshell ObamaCare Ruling Hinges on a Key Principle
Bombshell ObamaCare Ruling
Hinges on a Key Principle
the rundown

Bombshell ObamaCare Ruling Hinges on a Key Principle

And some think Texas judge Reed O'Connor overreached on 'severability'

(Newser) - A Texas judge delivered a bombshell ruling on ObamaCare Friday night, declaring that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. US District Court Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that the individual mandate—the penalty those who forgo insurance must pay—is unconstitutional. And because the individual mandate is so integral to...

Group Puts Huge Price Tag on Sanders' Plan. He Fires Back

Libertarian group says his 'Medicare for All' proposal would cost $32 trillion

(Newser) - Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for all" plan would increase government health care spending by $32.6 trillion over 10 years, according to a study by a university-based libertarian policy center. The latest plan from the Vermont independent would require historic tax increases as government replaces what employers and consumers now...

ObamaCare May Be Entering a &#39;Death Spiral&#39;
New ObamaCare Numbers
Look 'Troubling'
OPINION

New ObamaCare Numbers Look 'Troubling'

Rates are going up by double digits and younger, healthier enrollees are leaving

(Newser) - Three states so far have come out with preliminary premium-rate requests for ObamaCare in 2019, and a column by Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post suggests that a "death spiral" is underway for the health insurance program. Maryland's average rate increase is 30%, Virginia's is 13.4%,...

Want Cheaper Prescriptions? Don't Always Use Insurance

Study finds drugs often cheaper than insurance co-pays

(Newser) - Having health insurance means saving money on prescriptions, right? Not necessarily. A study published Tuesday in JAMA found insurance co-pays for generic drugs were actually higher than the cost of the drug 28% of the time. For name-brand drugs, it was 6%. Say your insurance has a $10 co-pay for...

It Cost $648K to Save Her. Here&#39;s Why That Didn&#39;t Ruin Her
It Cost $648K to Save Her.
Here's Why That Didn't Ruin Her
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

It Cost $648K to Save Her. Here's Why That Didn't Ruin Her

Molly Osberg on the illness that nearly killed her

(Newser) - It cost $648,221.53 to keep Molly Osberg alive. Well, it didn't personally cost her that much. The cut insurance had her pay was $2,654.42, and in a long piece for Splinter , she does two things: chart her extreme and sudden illness, and make the case...

Her Pain Drove Her to the ER. The Bill Hurt Much More

Vox looks at new policy Anthem is testing

(Newser) - Brittany Cloyd is like plenty of other 27-year-olds: married with a mortgage, student loan payments, and less than $1,000 in the bank. Which made a $12,596 hospital bill all the more distressing. Cloyd has insurance, but as Sarah Kliff explains in a larger look at the issue for...

I Gave Birth to Sick Twins, Lost My House, My Bed, My Dignity
I Gave Birth to Sick Twins, Lost
My House, My Bed, My Dignity
in case you missed it

I Gave Birth to Sick Twins, Lost My House, My Bed, My Dignity

Jen Sinconis describes her experience with medical debt for the 'Guardian'

(Newser) - In an essay for the Guardian , Jen Sinconis pens a sort of love letter to two ObamaCare tenets: a ban on lifetime limits on most benefits and on denying people insurance due to pre-existing conditions. Sinconis had access to neither when she had her twin boys 11 years ago. The...

Teen to Aetna After Brain Surgery Denied: 'Screw You'

Parents of girl wracked by seizures now trying to come up with $300K on their own

(Newser) - When Cara Pressman gets seizures, she describes it as "like having a nightmare but while you're awake," giving her the chills and the shakes and causing her to zone out for up to two minutes. So the 15-year-old, who a release says is from New York and...

One Big Factor Is Driving CVS Bid to Buy Aetna
Fearing Amazon,
CVS Makes $66B Move
the rundown

Fearing Amazon, CVS Makes $66B Move

Pairing of an insurer with a pharmaceutical company 'makes a lot of sense' to some

(Newser) - It's more big news in the world of health insurance—and potentially for the wallets of consumers—though this time it doesn't revolve around the fate of ObamaCare. The Wall Street Journal reports that CVS has offered to buy giant insurer Aetna for $66 billion. Why? One big...

ObamaCare Premiums Rise Sharply for 2nd Year in a Row

Most popular plans up by an average of 34%

(Newser) - Premiums for the most popular ObamaCare plans are going up an average of 34%, according to a study released Wednesday that confirms dire predictions about the impact of political turmoil on consumers. Window-shopping on HealthCare.gov went live Wednesday, so across the country consumers going online can see the consequences...

18 States Sue to Stop Trump's ObamaCare Cut

Trump boasts about health stocks falling

(Newser) - President Trump's move to axe a major ObamaCare subsidy has been taken to court—and it's probably going to be there for years to come, analysts say. The Democratic attorneys general of 18 states and Washington, DC filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday, the day after...

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