health insurance – News Stories About health insurance - Page 1

Splitting Up in Your Golden Years? A Health Insurance Primer

Older and About to
Become an Ex?
Think Health Insurance

Sep 10, 2023 1:00 PM CDT

Older and About to Become an Ex? Think Health Insurance

If you're about to divorce in your 50s, 60s, or older, think ahead so you're not left in the lurch

(Newser) - More than 1 in 3 people who divorce in the United States are age 50 or older, and 1 in 4 are 65 or older, according to a 2022 analysis published in the Journals of Gerontology. Divorcing as you near retirement—or after you've retired—comes with considerations: Are...

High Prices Force 1.3 Million Americans to Ration Insulin

1.3 Million Diabetic Americans
Forced to Ration Insulin

Nov 7, 2022 4:52 PM CST

1.3 Million Diabetic Americans Forced to Ration Insulin

It can have serious if not deadly consequences

(Newser) - Nearly 30 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, and over 7 million of them rely on a daily dose of insulin, including almost 1.9 million living with Type 1. For them, access to insulin is a matter of life and death, but as the Guardian reports, a recent...

Car Accident Reveals
an Odd Insurance Reality

Oct 9, 2022 5:00 PM CDT

Car Accident Reveals an Odd Insurance Reality

Urgent care medical facilities often don't treat victims from auto crashes

(Newser) - If you visit an urgent care facility rather than a regular emergency room after a car accident, don't be surprised if they refuse service. That's the upshot of the latest "bill of the month" feature from NPR , which puts a focus on medical bills. In this case,...

She Was Told It Was a $1K Surgery, Got Billed $304K

Colorado Woman Wins Fight
Against Crazy Hospital Bill

May 19, 2022 7:45 PM CDT

Colorado Woman Wins Fight Against Crazy Hospital Bill

Colorado Supreme Court rules in favor of Lisa French

(Newser) - Lisa French may finally be able to wash her hands of the $228,000 hospital bill that's been hanging over her head since 2014, thanks to a Monday ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court. The Denver Post has the story of the bill, which is tied to two back...

Record Numbers
Enroll in ObamaCare

Jan 27, 2022 4:04 PM CST

Record Numbers Enroll in ObamaCare

14.5M Americans signed up

(Newser) - Some 14.5 million Americans who lack job-based health coverage signed up for 2022 coverage under the Affordable Care Act—a record—according to the latest figures. They're not quite final, with the number expected to climb, per the Washington Post . The current tally includes 10 million people from...

Unvaccinated Delta Workers
to Pay $200 Monthly Charge

Aug 25, 2021 10:09 AM CDT

Unvaccinated Delta Workers to Pay $200 Monthly Charge

That's a health insurance surcharge

(Newser) - Delta employees don't have to be vaccinated like United employees do , but those who aren't will have to jump through some hoops. Specifically:

The company on Wednesday announced that as of today, unvaccinated employees will have to be masked in Delta's offices.
As of Sept. 12, unvaccinated

...

Supreme Court Dismisses
ObamaCare Challenge

Jun 17, 2021 9:24 AM CDT

Supreme Court Dismisses ObamaCare Challenge

Justices leave the Affordable Care Act intact

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the Obama-era health care law , preserving insurance coverage for millions of Americans, per the AP . The justices, by a 7-2 vote, left the entire law intact Thursday in ruling that Texas, other Republican-led states, and two individuals had no right to bring...

Critics Call UnitedHealthcare's
New ER Policy Dangerous

Jun 10, 2021 9:05 AM CDT

Critics Call UnitedHealthcare's New ER Policy Dangerous

Patients could be on the hook for visits later deemed to be nonemergencies

(Newser) - UnitedHealthcare says a new policy will reduce health care costs by reducing unnecessary emergency-room visits—but doctors warn there are some very obvious downsides to discouraging people from going to the ER. The policy the insurer is bringing in on July 1 will retroactively assess claims for emergency room visits,...

Citizen Flown Back to
US for Burn Treatment
Gets Massive Bill

Apr 7, 2021 2:34 PM CDT

Citizen Flown Back to US for Burn Treatment Gets Massive Bill

'$1,734,769.82 That's the price that I have to pay for surviving'

(Newser) - After suffering burns over almost his entire body in a horrific accident in Mexico, American citizen Alexis Hernandez was flown to the US for treatment—and later received an unexpected bill for $1.7 million. The 24-year-old spent seven months at the US Army's Institute of Surgical Research in...

Biden: I'm Reversing Trump's
'Attack on Women's Health'

Jan 28, 2021 2:15 PM CST

Biden: I'm Reversing Trump's 'Attack on Women's Health'

He also reopens sign-up window for health insurance during pandemic

(Newser) - President Biden on Thursday ordered government health insurance markets to reopen for a special sign-up window, offering uninsured Americans a haven as the spread of COVID-19 remains dangerously high and vaccines aren't yet widely available, per the AP . Biden signed an executive order directing the HealthCare.gov insurance markets...

Pandemic Wipes Out
Insurance in Record Numbers

Jul 14, 2020 12:15 PM CDT

Pandemic Wipes Out Insurance in Record Numbers

About 5.4M people lost coverage from February to May

(Newser) - Over the course of a year from 2008 to 2009, an estimated 3.9 million laid-off workers lost their health insurance in the recession. That was an annual record at the time, but the pandemic already has shattered it, reports the New York Times . An assessment by the nonpartisan group...

Major Insurer Won't Charge
Patients for Coronavirus Stays

Mar 25, 2020 2:13 PM CDT

Major Insurer Won't Charge Patients for Coronavirus Stays

Aetna's move applies to 3.6M Americans

(Newser) - One of the nation's biggest health insurers is waiving patient payments for hospital stays tied to the coronavirus. CVS Health's insurer Aetna said Wednesday that many of its customers will not have to make co-payments or other forms of cost sharing if they wind up admitted to a...

Several States Reopen
ObamaCare Enrollment

Mar 24, 2020 7:28 AM CDT

Several States Reopen ObamaCare Enrollment

Federal government is considering a similar move

(Newser) - Several states that run their own ObamaCare exchanges have reopened enrollment to make it easier for people who have lost their jobs to get health insurance. So far, 11 states have done so, reports the New York Times . The bigger question is whether the federal government—which runs the exchange...

Supreme Court Declines to
Fast-Track ObamaCare Review

Jan 21, 2020 10:05 AM CST

Supreme Court Declines to Fast-Track ObamaCare Review

Trump, red states had asked the high court to decline Democrats' request, and it did

(Newser) - The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to consider a fast-track review of a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, making it highly unlikely that the justices would decide the case before the 2020 election, the AP reports. The court denied a request by 20 mainly Democratic states and the...

She Had a Routine Throat
Swab. The Bill Was $28K

She Had a Routine Throat Swab. The Bill Was $28K

NPR looks at a particularly outrageous medical bill of a Brooklyn woman

(Newser) - NPR puts the focus on crazy medical bills in its "Bill of the Month" feature, and the latest is a doozy. A Brooklyn woman felt a cold coming on ahead of her vacation and went to the doctor to make sure it wasn't strep. She had a...

Insurance Horror Story,
With Bill of $898,984.57

Insurance Horror Story, With Bill of $898,984.57

Dignity Health stuck new mom with bill for preemie, until ProPublica asked questions

(Newser) - ProPublica may have saved a young family from financial ruin while illustrating the harsh realities of today's health insurance landscape. The story is about 30-year-old Lauren Bard, a nurse at a hospital in San Bernardino, Calif., who gave birth to a baby some three and a half months...

Man Who Murdered 4 in
His Family Found Not Guilty

Oct 26, 2019 1:15 PM CDT

Man Who Murdered 4 in His Family Found Not Guilty

Lovequawn Scott was mentally ill at the time, court says

(Newser) - A South Carolina man who murdered four family members was found not guilty Friday by reason of insanity, WCSC reports. In a bench trial, Jennifer Kneece Shealy of the Ninth Circuit's Solicitor's Office said Lovequawn Scott was clearly ill and had been refused help at a mental health...

There's a Sign ObamaCare's
Coverage Gains May Be Eroding

Sep 10, 2019 3:04 PM CDT

There's a Sign ObamaCare's Coverage Gains May Be Eroding

Share of uninsured Americans rises for first time in a decade

(Newser) - The number of Americans without health insurance edged up in 2018—the first evidence from the government that coverage gains from President Obama's health care plan might be eroding under President Trump, the AP reports. The Census Bureau also said in an annual report Tuesday that household income rose...

She'd Helped This Teen Before.
This Time, the Cops Came

Jan 24, 2019 8:40 AM CST

She'd Helped This Teen Before. This Time, the Cops Came

School superintendent charged with fraud after using health insurance to help sick student

(Newser) - An Indiana school superintendent who says she was worried about a sick student was hit with fraud charges after cops say she used her insurance to get medical treatment and meds for him. Per KTXL , court records say 48-year-old Casey Smitherman picked up the 15-year-old, who had a sore throat,...

Bombshell ObamaCare Ruling
Hinges on a Key Principle

the rundown

Dec 17, 2018 9:45 AM CST

Bombshell ObamaCare Ruling Hinges on a Key Principle

And some think Texas judge Reed O'Connor overreached on 'severability'

(Newser) - A Texas judge delivered a bombshell ruling on ObamaCare Friday night, declaring that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. US District Court Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that the individual mandate—the penalty those who forgo insurance must pay—is unconstitutional. And because the individual mandate is so integral to...