Julie Appleby

Image

Test tube with a blood sample for lead. | SHUTTERSTOCK

Thousands of children got tested for lead with faulty devices: What parents should know

Magellan Diagnostics has agreed to pay $42 million in penalties to settle federal criminal charges for concealing faulty tests for lead, a substance doctors say is unsafe for children at any level

Jun 11, 2024

Image

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN./GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKI COMMONS

Biden team’s tightrope: Reining in rogue Obamacare agents without slowing enrollment

Unscrupulous agents are reportedly switching unwitting consumers' plans. Officials are considering making it harder for agents to access consumers' information, but that could make it harder to enroll low-income people

May 7, 2024

Image

SHUTTERSTOCK

ACA plans are being switched without enrollees’ OK

Amid record Affordable Care Act enrollment, some insurance agents are complaining that their rivals are switching their customers to get monthly commissions.

Apr 2, 2024

Image

THOMAS BREHER/PIXABAY

When copay assistance backfires on patients

Insurers continue to battle pharmaceutical industry efforts to subsidize patient expenses for costly drugs, and allied patient groups are pushing back

Mar 19, 2024

Image

SHUTTERSTOCK

There’s a new COVID-19 variant and cases are ticking up. What do you need to know?

Omicron descendant JN.1 represented at least 39% of pre-holiday cases, and more cases are mild, with fewer deaths and hospitalizations than last year

Jan 9, 2024

Image

President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris./Shutterstock

Biden wants states to ensure Obamacare plans cover enough doctors and hospitals

The proposal would continue administration efforts to expand coverage and would set additional guardrails on states that choose to run their own ACA marketplaces

Dec 12, 2023

Image

AKKALAK AIEMPRADIT/SHUTTERSTOCK

Medicare Advantage increasingly popular with seniors — but not hospitals and doctors

Hospital and medical groups are bristling at payment rates the plans impose and at what they say are onerous requirements for preapproval to deliver care and too many after-the-fact claim denials

Nov 30, 2023

Image

Christine Rogers of Wake Forest, North Carolina, was asked to complete a mental health questionnaire as part of her annual physical. Her physician then asked about her responses, and she replied that she was having a hard year after the death of her mother. The brief conversation landed her with a charge for a separate consultation with her physician. | KATE MEDLEY/KFF HEALTH NEWS

When that supposedly free annual physical generates a bill

Annual wellness checks are typically covered without cost sharing under the Affordable Care Act, but if an issue arises during a checkup that prompts discussion, that consult can be billed — sometimes inappropriately

Nov 14, 2023

Image

SHUTTERSTOCK

Start shopping: Enrollment began Nov. 1 for most Obamacare insurance plans

Consumers can go online, call, or seek help from a broker or other assister to learn their 2024 coverage options, calculate their potential subsidies or change plans

Nov 2, 2023

Image

SHUTTERSTOCK

Medicare enrollees can switch coverage now. Here’s what’s new and what to consider.

From Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, enrollees in either the traditional program or Medicare Advantage plans can change their coverage

Oct 17, 2023