health care costs

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IBM Shifting Retirees to Health-Insurance Exchange

It's a growing trend among big companies, says Wall Street Journal

(Newser) - As of the first of the new year, IBM retirees will no longer be on the company health plan—IBM is transferring them to a health-insurance exchange, reports Reuters . The company will give the retirees an annual payment, and they'll use it pick their own plan from a privately...

'Cartels' Are Fueling Generic Drug Shortage

We must ensure a free market: experts

(Newser) - The US generic drugs business is effectively skirting the free market, prompting dangerous shortages that can make the difference between life and death, a group of pharmaceutical experts and activists argue in the New York Times . The US is currently facing shortages of 302 drugs, and a new law last...

Real Hospital Bill: $546 for Bag of Saltwater

 Real Hospital Bill: 
 $546 for Bag of 
 Saltwater 
in case you missed it
Aug 31, 2013 7:36 AM CDT

Real Hospital Bill: $546 for Bag of Saltwater

That's for 6 liters of water and 54 grams of salt

(Newser) - As far as price tags go, it's an attention grabber: $546 for six liters of water and 54 grams of salt. But that's what one patient was charged for what the New York Times calls "one of the most common components of emergency medicine": the IV bag....

Down With Annual Checkups!
 Down With Annual Checkups! 
OPINION
Aug 20, 2013 10:21 AM CDT

Down With Annual Checkups!

Brian Palmer thinks people should go to the doctor when they're actually sick

(Newser) - Here's some simple advice that will save you time and money: "If you're not sick, don't go to the doctor," writes Brian Palmer at Slate . Around 45 million healthy people spend 17 million hours a year completing their annual checkups, costing the health care system...

ObamaCare Rollout Hits Another Big Bump

Cap on out-of-pocket expenses will be delayed a year

(Newser) - The first year of the Affordable Care Act may not be too affordable for some. The New York Times reports that another key part of ObamaCare—this time, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses for patients—will be delayed by a year. The law was supposed to guarantee that individuals would...

US Most Expensive Place to Give Birth in the World
 US Most Expensive Place 
 to Give Birth in the World 
in case you missed it
Jul 6, 2013 7:03 AM CDT

US Most Expensive Place to Give Birth in the World

Average delivery is $9,775

(Newser) - The average hospital baby delivery in the US costs $9,775—$15,041 if it's a Caesarean—more than any first-world country in the world, the New York Times reports. It's $3,541 in France, and $2,641 in Britain. And the price hike is not because US...

Our Enormous Hidden Problem: Unnecessary Surgeries

USA Today thinks up to 20% of cardiac procedures are bogus

(Newser) - There's an enormous epidemic afoot within the medical industry, and it's one that doesn't receive much attention: unnecessary surgeries. USA Today took an in-depth look at the issue, poring over the available research, and concludes that 10% to 20% of all surgeries in some specialties are unnecessary,...

Why Americans Pay More for Colonoscopies

Because America charges more, and has made the procedure more profitable

(Newser) - Americans spend more on health care than any other country. A US hip replacement costs four times as much as one in Switzerland. A C-section costs three times as much as New Zealand. And a hospital stay costs triple that of other developed nations—though it doesn't typically last...

Inside the Most Expensive Hospital in America

How a New Jersey hospital went from bankruptcy to big bills

(Newser) - Bayonne, New Jersey, is not a place you want to get sick. The New York Times has combed through Medicare data released by the government this month, and found Bayonne Medical Center charges the highest prices in the country for almost a quarter of the most common hospital treatments. For...

It's Official: Hospital Bills Make No Sense

$5K for a procedure in one hospital costs $223K in another

(Newser) - The charges on US hospital bills often seem entirely random and inconsistent, and now we know why: they probably are. The government has released data today on what 3,300 different hospitals charge for the 100 most common procedures. The results show massive variation, reports the Washington Post . One DC...

Feds Might Not Certify Boston as 'Act of Terror'

Property damage too low for certification, but health care costs could top $9M

(Newser) - President Obama has called the Boston Marathon bombings terrorism, but apparently insurance companies aren't inclined to agree. After 9/11, Congress enacted the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program to help stabilize terrorism insurance premiums, and under that federal law, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew must certify violent incidents as an "act...

Dementia Care Now Costs More Than Cancer

Study pegs it at up to $215B per year in US, and it's bound to get worse

(Newser) - A family caring for a parent with Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia can expect to pay about $51,000 a year in medical costs, says a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. All told, Americans spent up to $215 billion on dementia care in...

Companies Fume Over Unnoticed ObamaCare Fee

New fund will cost employers $63 per worker they insure

(Newser) - Firms are lashing out against a fee they will face next year under the new health law: Most big employers will owe $63 for every person they insure, with the money going into a $25 billion fund, reports the Wall Street Journal . That fund, built up over three years, will...

VA Fudges Vets&#39; Health Data to Duck Costs
 VA Fudges Vets' 
 Health Data 
 to Duck Costs 
WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS
Mar 13, 2013 12:03 PM CDT

VA Fudges Vets' Health Data to Duck Costs

Former staffer says VA seeks to avoid expensive care

(Newser) - The Department of Veterans Affairs keeps some health data quiet to avoid the financial burden of expensive care, according to a former VA staffer set to testify today before a House subcommittee. If "studies produce results that do not support the office of public health's unwritten policy, they...

How Hospital Bills Are Killing the US
 How Hospital Bills 
 Are Killing the US 
in case you missed it
Mar 2, 2013 8:00 AM CST

How Hospital Bills Are Killing the US

Trumped-up bills 'drive the federal deficit': Steven Brill of Time

(Newser) - Getting Hodgkin's lymphoma was bad enough. Then Ohio resident Sean Recchi received his hospital bill: $83,900. You can blame his limited health insurance, but Steven Brill at Time looked behind the numbers to see why MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston charged so much. What Brill found: shocking...

New on W-2s: Cost of Your Health Plan

Disclosure aimed at raising awareness of costs

(Newser) - The W-2 forms workers are receiving this month contain new information many are likely to find eye-opening: The cost of their employer-sponsored health coverage. ObamaCare requires disclosure of the information, which appears in Box 12 of the standard W-2 form, the New York Times reports. The disclosure, proposed by a...

Japan Official: Sick Old Folks Should &#39;Hurry Up and Die&#39;
Japan Official: Sick Old Folks Should 'Hurry Up and Die'
in case you missed it
Jan 26, 2013 1:08 PM CST

Japan Official: Sick Old Folks Should 'Hurry Up and Die'

It would save the government a lot of money, says finance minister

(Newser) - And the award for compassion showed by a politician when talking about a touchy issue goes to Japan finance minister Taro Aso. While addressing the heavy state costs of medical care for the elderly, he said:
  • "I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being
...

Medicare Drug Premiums Set to Soar


 Medicare 
 Drug Premiums 
 Set to Soar 
NEW REPORT
Sep 25, 2012 7:35 AM CDT

Medicare Drug Premiums Set to Soar

Seven of 10 top plans will jump by double digits: analysts

(Newser) - Seniors covered by top Medicare prescription drug plans may want to start looking elsewhere for coverage: Seven of the top 10 plans will see double-digit premium hikes next year, according to a private firm's analysis. The Obama administration was technically right to say the average premium for basic drug...

Electronic Medical Records May Be Raising Costs

Critics says it's simple for doctors, hospitals to overcharge Medicare now

(Newser) - Electronic medical records are supposed to make things better, right? The idea is to make billing and care more efficient, which should reduce costs, too. Except, the New York Times reports that Medicare has been shelling out substantially more money to hospitals in recent years, thanks in part to the...

Almost 30% of US Health Care Spending Is Wasted

New report finds $750B in unneeded care, administrative costs, fraud

(Newser) - The US health care system is hopelessly broken, blowing $750 billion a year—or about 30 cents of every dollar that goes into it—on unnecessary procedures, paperwork, fraud, price gouging, and other inefficiencies, a new report from the influential Institute of Medicine has concluded. "Health care in America...

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