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Slipping Between Medicaid And Marketplace Coverage Can Leave Consumers Confused
For people whose income changes shift them above or below the Medicaid threshold during the year, navigating their health insurance coverage can be confusing. Ditto for lower income people who live in...
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A 401(k) Withdrawal Can Lead To Trouble For Health Plan Subsidies
This week I answered a grab bag of questions from readers about premium tax credit repayments for marketplace plans, out-of-network emergency care and nursing home bills. While doing my taxes I...
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Debate Arises Over HHS Plans For Privacy Rules On Addiction Treatment
What’s more harmful to patients being treated for drug or alcohol abuse: risking their health by keeping other medical providers in the dark about their substance abuse treatment? Or risking their...
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Mortgages For Expensive Health Care? Some Experts Think It Can Work.
Californians are used to big mortgages. Now, how about prescription drug loans? That’s one idea for coping with prohibitively expensive drug prices. The unusual proposal is being pitched by academics...
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Prices And Health Care Quality: Many Consumers Don’t See A Link
Most consumers don’t believe the adage that “you get what you pay for” in health care, according to a new study. The report in this month’s issue of the journal Health Affairs analyzed the responses of...
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More Exchange Plans Offer Patients Easier Access To Some Expensive Drugs: Report
Some people with cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis have better access to high-cost specialty drugs in marketplace plans this year, yet a significant proportion of these plans still place many...
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Number Of Low Income Kids Getting Coverage Grows In California, Around Nation
Bolstered by the federal health care reform law, the number of low-income kids getting full health coverage in California continues to grow, as it does in the nation as a whole, a recent study found....
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People With HIV Are Less Likely To Get Cancer Treatment
We’ve made great progress treating people who are infected with HIV, but if they get cancer they’re less likely to get the care they need, a recent study found. Researchers examined treatment for a...
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Study Suggests Federal Standard May Be Thwarting Some Transplant Patients
For the roughly 15,000 people who need a liver transplant, it’s a waiting game. With demand for donated livers far outstripping supply, patients may spend months or years on a transplant waitlist,...
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States Offer Privacy Protections To Young Adults On Their Parents’ Health Plan
The health law opened the door for millions of young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26. But there’s a downside to remaining on the family plan. Chances are that mom...
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Feds Urge State Medicaid Programs To Boost Use Of Long-Acting Contraceptives
The federal government, which spends billions of dollars each year covering unintended pregnancies, is encouraging states to adopt policies that help boost the number of Medicaid enrollees who use...
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Public Health Officials Struggle To Identify Sepsis Before It Becomes Deadly
After Rory Staunton fell at the gym and cut his arm in March of 2012, the 12-year-old became feverish and vomited during the night, complaining of a sharp pain in his leg. When his parents called his...
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Patients, Fearing Pricey Follow-Ups, May Shy Away From Some Colon Cancer Tests
This week, I answered a grab bag of reader questions about insurance coverage for colorectal cancer screening, hospital facility fees and the tax treatment of annual fees charged by concierge medical...
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‘Simple Choice Plans’ To Debut on Federal Exchanges In 2017
Health plan shoppers using one of the insurance exchanges supported or run by the federal government may get a taste of what Californians have been able to do since the Covered California marketplace...
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Insurers May Insist On Counseling Before Genetic Tests For Breast Cancer
Health care providers and insurers agree that it’s in everyone’s best interest to refer women for genetic testing if their family history of breast or ovarian cancer puts them at higher risk. What they...
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Expert Panel Recommends Expansion Of Services With No Cost Sharing For Women
The list of preventive services that women can receive without paying anything out of pocket could grow if draft recommendations by an expert panel are adopted by federal officials this year. The draft...
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Health Law Targets Women’s Preventive Services, But It Offers Help To Men, Too
This week, I answered a couple of questions from readers about preventive health benefits and looked into coverage options for people who travel frequently. Why aren’t there preventive health...
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California Won’t Extend Parental Leave Rights To Small Businesses
Aiming to attract and keep top-notch talent, a growing number of companies are dangling family-friendly perks such as lengthy paid leave for new moms and dads, back-up child care and onsite infant...
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Siete tips para evitar un dolor de cabeza al inscribirse en un plan de salud
Con el período abierto de inscripción para planes de salud en los mercados establecidos por la Ley de Cuidado de Salud Asequible ya en marcha, muchos consumidores están preocupados por el aumento de...
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Despite Anger At Health Law’s Mandate, GOP Plans Could Also Have Penalties
The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that people have health insurance or pay a fine is one of the least popular provisions of the law, and one that Republicans have pledged to eliminate when they...
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