6 Important Questions to Ask When Getting Homeowners Insurance
Understanding your coverage: What exactly does the homeowners insurance policy cover and what are its limitations? Homeowners insurance provides coverage for a variety of perils...
Removing a Splinter? Treating a Wart? If a Doctor Does It, It Can Be Billed as Surgery
When George Lai of Portland, Oregon, took his toddler son to a pediatrician last summer for a checkup, the doctor noticed a little splinter in the child’s palm. “He must have gotten it between the front door and the car,” Lai later recalled, and the child wasn’t complaining. The doctor grabbed a pair of forceps…
KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: A Killing Touches Off Backlash Against Health Insurers
The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to…
Federal Judge Halts Dreamers’ Brand-New Access to ACA Enrollment in 19 States
A federal judge in North Dakota has for the first time — enrollment in Affordable Care Act coverage by people brought to the U.S. as children without immigration paperwork, known as “Dreamers.” The move effectively bars those who have qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in those 19 states from enrolling in…
Journalists Dig Into Vaccine Debate and America’s Obesity Rates
KFF Health News senior correspondent Arthur Allen discussed the fragility of our vaccine infrastructure on The Atlantic’s “Radio Atlantic” on Dec. 5. Click here to hear Allen on “Radio Atlantic” Read Allen’s “Scientists Fear What’s Next for Public Health if RFK Jr. Is Allowed To ‘Go Wild’” KFF Health News contributor Andy Miller discussed U.S.…
Efforts To Curb ACA Enrollment Fraud Face Real-World Test
The current Affordable Care Act open enrollment season is the first big test of new federal guardrails against fraud. The rules aim to head off unauthorized ACA plan enrollments or switches by rogue agents and entities looking to make money via enrollment commissions. Such sign-ups triggered more than 274,000 consumer complaints through August this year.…
A Toddler Got a Nasal Swab Test but Left Before Seeing a Doctor. The Bill was $445.
Ryan Wettstein Nauman was inconsolable one evening last December. After being put down for bed, the 3-year-old from Peoria, Illinois, just kept crying and crying and crying, and nothing would calm her down. Her mother, Maggi Wettstein, remembered fearing it could be a yeast or urinary tract infection, something they had been dealing with during…
Dicen que los esfuerzos contra el fraude en ACA han dado resultados. Pero hay que estar alerta
Los cambios no autorizados en los planes médicos de la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA) parecen haberse reducido en las últimas semanas: reguladores federales informaron que hay menos quejas de los consumidores. Los Centros de Servicios de Medicare y Medicaid (CMS), que supervisan ACA, atribuyen esta reducción a las medidas adoptadas…
Federal Watchdog Urges Crackdown on Medicare Advantage Home Visits
Medicare officials are pushing back against a federal watchdog’s call to crack down on home visits by Medicare Advantage health plans — a practice the watchdog says may waste billions of tax dollars every year. In late October, a Health and Human Services inspector general audit found that the insurers pocketed $7.5 billion in 2023 from diagnosing health conditions that…
Journalists Examine Health Care for Native Americans and Recent Food Recalls
KFF Health News contributor Andy Miller discussed the Trump presidency and health care on WUGA’s “The Georgia Health Report” on Nov. 8. Click here to hear Miller on “The Georgia Health Report” Read Stephanie Armour’s “Trump’s White House Return Poised To Tangle Health Care Safety Net” KFF Health News correspondent Brett Kelman discussed dental implants…