Surprise medical bills, coronavirus and bad insurance: 3 arguments for Medicare for All
By Philip A. Verhoef for USA Today Congress is grappling with the problem of surprise medical bills, but will its Band-Aid approaches make a difference? As a physician, I’m trained to look beyond superficial symptoms to diagnose the underlying ailment. When patients pay thousands of dollars each year for “good” private insurance, how does a health care […]
Nashville emergency room sues 700 patients over unpaid bills
By Blake Farmer for The Associated Press Nashville General is the city-funded, safety-net hospital. For a patient without insurance, this is supposed to be the best place to go. But its emergency room has been taking more patients to court for unpaid medical bills than any other hospital or practice in town. A WPLN investigation […]
“Am I a bad person?” Why one mom didn’t take her kid to the ER — even after poison control said to.
The emergency room bill I can’t stop thinking about. By Sarah Kliff for Vox Two years ago, 36-year-old Lindsay Clark was facing a terrible decision. Her 2-year-old daughter Lily had gotten into a small bottle of the anti-nausea drug Dramamine. “It had a child lock on it, but I caught her sitting there with a […]
Medicare for all would save money — and lives
The last thing on your mind during a ride to the ER should be: Is this going to bankrupt me? By Negin Owliaei for Nation of Change One night a few years ago, my partner woke up delirious with fever, a bright rash, and joint pain so bad he couldn’t get out of bed without […]
The Nightmare of Medical Care in America
To be sick and not rich By Beverly Gologorsky for Common Dreams On this extremely hot summer day, the ear-splitting siren screaming through New York’s streets is coming from the ambulance I’m in — on a gurney on my way to the ER. That only makes the siren, loud as it is, all the more […]
Single mother goes from traffic stop to bench warrant to jail over unpaid medical bill: ‘It just isn’t right’
By Jerry Davich for Chicago Tribune Melissa Welch-Latronica had no idea why she got pulled over by a Valparaiso police officer earlier this month. He informed her that she failed to affix her 2019 sticker to her license plate. She apologized and handed him her driver’s license. Then she waited, and waited. She noticed a […]
A $20,243 bike crash: Zuckerberg hospital’s aggressive tactics leave patients with big bills
I spent a year writing about ER bills. Zuckerberg San Francisco General has the most surprising billing practices I’ve seen. By Sarah Kliff for Vox On April 3, Nina Dang, 24, found herself in a position like so many San Francisco bike riders — on the pavement with a broken arm. A bystander saw her […]
He went to an in-network emergency room. He still ended up with a $7,924 bill.
By Sarah Kliff for VOX On January 28, 34-year-old Scott Kohan woke up in an emergency room in downtown Austin, Texas, with his jaw broken in two places, the result of a violent attack the night before. Witnesses called 911, which dispatched an ambulance that brought him to the hospital while he was unconscious. “The […]