Over half of Americans delay or don’t get health care because they can’t afford it—these 3 treatments get put off most
By Shawn M. Carter for CNBC With open enrollment for many medical plans in full swing, health care is top of mind for millions of Americans. But health care is still too expensive for most: A majority of U.S. adults have to delay getting the care they need, or put it off completely, because they […]
The No-Brainer Case for Universal Long-Term Care
By Joel Dodge for People’s Policy Project Progressives have increasingly coalesced around a single-payer Medicare-for-All system as the goal for American healthcare. There is one piece of our healthcare system in particular where single-payer is the undeniably obvious solution: long-term care. Long-term care encompasses everything from nursing homes to home health aides to rehabilitation for […]
Solidarity With Medical Students Who Demand Single Payer Now: An Open Letter
By Students for a National Health Program We, the undersigned, stand together with medical students as they pressure organized medicine to support a single, comprehensive health care system for everyone in America. At the American Medical Association’s annual conference in June, medical students demanded the organization end its decades-long opposition to a single-payer national health […]
Providence Medical Group CEO: We’re 5-10 years out on single payer system
By Morgan Haefner for Becker’s Hospital Review Payer mix changes, like a shift toward more patients in government programs, coupled with rising healthcare costs, mean change is likely coming for America’s healthcare payment system, according to the Beaverton Valley Times. Doug Koekkoek, MD, chief executive of Portland, Ore.-based Providence Medical Group, said a possible result […]
Why Your Health Insurer Doesn’t Care About Your Big Bills
By Marshall Allen for Pro Publica Patients may think their insurers are fighting on their behalf for the best prices. But saving patients money is often not their top priority. Just ask Michael Frank. Michael Frank ran his finger down his medical bill, studying the charges and pausing in disbelief. The numbers didn’t make sense. […]
Why does the U.S. spend so much more on healthcare? It’s the prices
By Harris Meyer for Modern Healthcare “It’s an incredible bureaucratic mess to get anything done for patients,” said Cullen, president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians. In contrast, Dr. Trina Larsen Soles’ 12-physician general practice in Golden, British Columbia, has one full-time staffer assigned each day to billing the province’s public medical services plan, […]
The Disappearing Doctor: How Mega-Mergers Are Changing the Business of Medical Care
Big corporations — giant retailers and health insurance companies — are teaming up to become your doctor. By Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell for The New York Times Is the doctor in? In this new medical age of urgent care centers and retail clinics, that’s not a simple question. Nor does it have a simple […]