Jeanne Pinder
A friend writes: “I have had a pain in my lower abdomen since I felt like I tore a muscle after lifting heavy boxes. “I was referred to hernia doctors and other orthopedic surgeons who said I didn’t have a hernia. Nevertheless, the pain persisted. I finally found an expert in muscle tears that do […]
Jeanne Pinder
It’s a medical billing story with a happy ending. The share on our software for a Pap smear associated with a woman’s annual exam said the New Orleans area woman was charged $247, and she had to pay. She said this: “The yearly exam was covered. I choose the doctor because she was in my […]
Jeanne Pinder
We received this email in connection with our Cracking the Code partnership in New Orleans: My doctor at Tulane University Medical Center had suggested an abdominal MRI as part of a portfolio of check-ups to better understand the possible trajectory of a hereditary condition that might affect me. I’m 27 years old, and wanted to […]
Virginia Jeffries
By VIRGINIA JEFFRIES and PHOEBE PINDER Cree’Shaina Towery’s 9-year-old daughter tested positive for Covid in late December after a relative who was staying with them for the holidays contracted the virus. Towery’s daughter was totally asymptomatic, so she was not initially concerned, she said. “At that point, I will say I was completely naive,” Towery […]
Jeanne Pinder
“Total health benefit cost rose 3.4% on average in 2020, reaching $13,674 per employee among all US employer health plan sponsors with 50 or more employees, according to the annual Mercer National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans 2020,” Mercer wrote in a press release. “Large employers (those with 500 or more employees) reported a cost […]
Ben Glickman
In June, during his second week of having Covid-like symptoms, Andrew Ficker took a turn for the worse. His left arm went numb, he had pain in his chest and he felt dizzy. He went to the emergency room, fearing that he was in the middle of a heart attack. Over the next month and […]
Jeanne Pinder
Continuing with our series of interviews of people involved in health care in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, I caught up with Niall Brennan, C.E.O. of the Health Care Cost Institute research group, former chief data officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a former analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. […]
Jeanne Pinder
“In March, I came down with a life-threatening case of COVID-19,” David Lat writes over at Slate. “I spent 16 nights in the hospital, including a week in the intensive care unit. I underwent an emergency intubation, followed by six days on a ventilator. I received services from multiple specialists -— experts in critical care, […]
Jeanne Pinder
So you’re worried about your health insurance given the coronavirus epidemic. You’re not alone. Whether you have or had job-sponsored insurance, or were on the state exchanges, or were uninsured before COVID-19 hit, it’s a topic of concern. Here are some situations, with answers. You lost your job and need insurance to replace employer-sponsored insurance. […]
Jeanne Pinder
“Even as soaring insurance deductibles wreak financial havoc on millions of American families, some workers have managed to dodge the affordability crisis,” Noam N. Levey writes in The Los Angeles Times. “In Boston, a labor union representing the city’s hotel workers offers its members health coverage with no deductible and family premiums just a tenth […]
