Results for search "Health Costs".
06 Apr
A survey of more than 700 women finds money concerns often stop women from getting follow-up tests after an abnormal mammogram.
An exceptionally pricey gene therapy cure for sickle cell disease could soon be available, but it’s not clear whether insurance companies will balk at the cost and deny coverage.
On the surface, the gene therapy does not appear as cost-effective as the grinding medical care that sickle cell patients now receive, according to a new analysis.
Gene therapy applied just once to a sick...
Many seniors skip or stretch prescription medications due to costs despite being insured by Medicare, a new U.S. study finds.
Roughly 20% of older adults reported taking less medication than prescribed or not taking medication because of cost, the researchers found.
"We also found that most respondents wanted to talk with their doctors about medication costs and would want their d...
New IRS guidance will allow older couples in the United States to contribute more than $10,000 to tax-free health savings accounts (HSA) next year.
Under the new guidelines announced this week, for folks under 55, individuals can contribute up to $4,150 annually to their HSAs, NBC News reported Friday. That’s a 7.8% increase.
Families can contribute a maximum of $8,300 a...
Pollutants produced by the U.S. oil and gas industry cause thousands of deaths and cost the country tens of billions in health care expenses, a new study reports.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter and ozone all contribute to air pollution, and all are emitted as part of oil and gas production, the researchers said.
The new study estimates that the oil and gas industry ...
While COVID-19's toll on health and wellness has been obvious, the virus has also hit people in the wallet.
A new study links surviving COVID to financial challenges later, especially for folks who were hospitalized with the virus.
“More than half of Americ...
Menopause symptoms are costly business, with billions spent on treating hot flashes, night sweats and lost sleep, a new study finds.
The research, published Wednesday in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, found that women living with these symptoms nee...
The company that makes the opioid overdose nasal spray Narcan plans to have it available in pharmacies and online by late summer for a price of less than $50.
Emergent sent a response letter Thursday to Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who had sent a
Getting care in the United States for lingering COVID-19 symptoms can be challenging, affecting long-term health and ability to work, a new study finds.
Adults with so-called long COVID have had greater challenges with health care access and affordability than other adults, and these barriers to care have implications for their well-being, said lead researcher
Financial stress and work lost to cancer treatment affects patients and their partners alike.
Partners also experienced pain, fatigue and sleep issues owing to these fiscal worries, a new study found.
“We know that financial toxicity or hardship is a signifi...
The so-called "Medicaid cliff" is a perennial threat for millions of American seniors whose incomes put them just above the poverty line.
While impoverished seniors often have Medicaid to help cover their health care expenses, seniors who make just a little bit more have to pay the higher out-of-pocket costs of Medicare themselves.
The upshot: They're much less likely to go to the ...
Medicaid reimbursement for mental health services varies widely across the United States, making it hard for many folks who need help to get it, a new study finds.
Researchers found as much as a fivefold difference among states in Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Even though Medicaid, the go...
A new study shows that money, or lack of it, can stand in the way of follow-up testing after an abnormal mammogram result.
Just over one-fifth of U.S. women surveyed by researchers said they would skip additional testing if they had to pay a deductible or co-pay.
Of 714 women who responded when asked if they'd have follow-up imaging if they had to pay for all or part of it, 21% said...
Breast cancer screening may be free for women with health insurance, but high costs may still keep some from getting needed follow-up tests, a new study finds.
The study, of more than 230,000 U.S. women who underwent screening mammography, found that those in insurance plans with higher out-of-pocket costs were less likely to get follow-up testing after an abnormal screening result.
When a child is hospitalized, cost may not be the greatest worry but the out-of-pocket expense can be substantial in the United States, even for those with insurance.
A Michigan Medicine study found that U.S. families covered by private insurance s...
Sanofi Inc. on Thursday became the third company to announce it will slash prices on its insulin products.
The French company announced that it will cut prices by 78% and cap out-of-pocket charges for its insulin, brand named Lantus, at $35 per month. The company will also lower prices on its short-acting insulin, Apidra, by 70%.
“Sanofi believes that no one should struggle to pay...
Novo Nordisk Inc. on Tuesday became the third drug company to say it will slash prices on some of its insulin products.
Starting in January 2024, there will be a 75% price cut for NovoLog and NovoLog Mix 70/30, while Novolin and Levemir will see cuts of 65%, the Danish pharmaceutical giant announced in a
When Americans have medical debt, it's typically to a hospital, according to new research.
The Urban Institute found that more than 15% of non-elderly adults in the United States have past-due medical debt. Nearly 73% owe some or all of that money to hospitals.
“These
More Americans will soon be paying less for their insulin.
Eli Lilly, one of the three insulin manufacturers, plans to cut its list prices of the drug by 70% and cap out-of-pocket costs at $35 a month.
"While the current health care system provides access to insulin for most people with diabetes, it still does not provide affordable insulin for everyone, and that needs to change," E...
Shopping for cataract surgery, a heart valve replacement or a colonoscopy?
You're better able these days to compare what one hospital charges against the prices at another, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
A majority of hospitals are now complying with U.S. federal rules that require them to post the prices of their procedures, Medi...
American adults who have no health insurance or those who are underinsured will still be able to get free COVID vaccines from Moderna, even after government-purchased supplies run out, the company announced Monday.
"Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors' offices or local pharmacies. For uninsured ...
Americans have less medical debt now than they did a couple years ago, possibly because of policies and programs that gave more people access to health insurance and relief funds.
About 8.2 million people had medical debt on their credit reports in 2022, according to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
That's down about 18% from 2020, the Associated Press...
Email has become an easy and essential form of communication between patients and physicians -- so much so that doctors are deluged daily with messages from patients.
Now, some hospitals and health systems have started charging for doctors' responses to those messages, depending on the amount of work needed to respond. Only a handful of health systems have started billing for these, and t...
Americans received unprecedented access to health care during the pandemic, including hassle-free public insurance and free tests, treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.
Now, they need to prepare for most of that to unwind, experts say.
“Essentially, Congress and the administration moved to a model of universal health coverage for COVID vaccines, treatments and tests” during the ...
New research suggests that pregnant women and new moms in rural U.S. areas are at greater risk of adverse outcomes, including death, because they are more likely to be uninsured.
Women living in rural communities had lower rates of uninterrupted health insurance before, during and after pregnancy compared to those in urban areas, a University of Michigan study found.
“Being uninsu...
Out-of-pocket costs can leave Medicare patients with the most common type of liver cancer in financial distress.
While Medicare payments in the first year after diagnosis with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exceeded $65,000, out-of-pocket costs were more than $10,000,
Mila Clarke started taking Ozempic in 2020 to help manage her diabetes, but was pleasantly surprised to find herself soon shedding pounds.
“I was like, this is really weird because I'm not having to try very hard to do this,” said Clarke, who has been diagnosed with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and chronicles her diabetes journey on her
The United States spends up to four times more on health care than most wealthy nations, but it doesn't have much to show for it.
Life expectancy in America continues to decline even though this country spends nearly 18% of its gross domestic product on health care, according to a new
The U.S. government could save billions every year once Medicare begins negotiating drug prices in 2026, new research suggests.
The Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress last year allows Medicare to bargain with drug companies on the prices of 10 of the highest-priced drugs in 2026 before ...
Television ads for drugs are filled with glowing images of people living their best lives, all thanks to that new med they've been prescribed.
But drugs being touted on TV often have little to no benefit compared to other treatments, a new study published online Jan. 13 in JAMA...
The number of Americans who had trouble paying their medical bills dropped precipitously between 2019 and 2021, and funds from the American Rescue Plan and other federal pandemic relief programs may have been a reason why.
Overall, 10.8% of Americans responding to a federal survey in 2021 said they had had problems covering medical bills that year, down from 14% in 2019, according to rese...
Most working-age Americans get health insurance through their employer, but even they are finding it tougher to afford medical care these days, a new study shows.
Researchers found that over the past 20 years, a growing number of Americans with job-based health insurance have been skipping medical care due to costs. Women have been particularly hard-hit.
The antiviral Paxlovid has kept people from getting really sick and dying from COVID-19 since it became available -- at no cost to them.
But by the middle of next year, the U.S. government will stop subsidizing the medication. Instead, it will be billed for like many other medications.
While the Biden administration has paid about $530 for each course of the medication by buying 2...
Costs for epilepsy medications in the United States are skyrocketing, outpacing inflation and straining federal insurers Medicare and Medicaid, according to new research.
Spending on antiseizure medications more than doubled in eight years for the government insurers, largely because of third-generation and brand-name drugs, the study found.
"While it's very important that Medicare ...
Researchers warn that high rates of cervical cancer screening in women over 65 suggest that some older Americans are being unnecessarily screened.
More health data on these screenings in older women is needed to prevent potential harm and unnecessary costs, said the team from University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the U.S. Centers for Dise...
Out-of-pocket costs may make as many as 1 in 5 women forgo additional screening when an initial mammogram finds an abnormality, a new U.S. study finds.
The Affordable Care Act improved access to mammograms, but high-deductible insurance plans appear to keep women from important follow-ups, according to the findings.
"The ACA removed out-of-pocket costs for screening mammograms unde...
California's plan to manufacture its own insulin could be a huge money-saver for state residents with diabetes -- and possibly be a model for other states, according to experts.
Earlier this year, California announced an initiative to bring its own insulin products to market, in response to the steep costs of the lifesaving drug in the United States.
And if it's successful, it will ...
One in 5 privately insured American adults hospitalized for a traumatic injury end up with medical bills they can't pay, a new study finds.
Among more than 3,100 working-aged insured adults who suffered a traumatic injury, the risk of incurring co-pays and deductibles they couldn't afford was 23% higher than among similar adults without traumatic injuries. These patients were also more li...
In a finding that challenges the notion that immigrants are freeloaders in the American health care system, a new study shows they are paying a lot more through health care premiums and related taxes than they actually use in care.
In fact, the amount that immigrants pay in makes up for some of the amount of health care that non-immigrants use in excess of what they pay.
“Some p...
After a sexual assault, some victims are charged for the initial treatment and collection of evidence, even though U.S. federal law requires those services to be free.
Now, a new federal bill aims to change that by requiring private insurance companies to cover these costs for their customers.
"This legislat...
More than 1 million Americans with diabetes have to ration lifesaving insulin because they can't afford it, a new study shows.
Many people delayed picking up their insulin prescription, while others took lower doses than they needed, researchers found.
Exp...
The U.S. government will invest $266 million to shore up the community and public health workforce using American Rescue Plan funding.
About $225.5 million will go to 83 recipients to support training and apprenticeship for 13,000 new community health workers, CNN reported before Friday's announcement...
Smoking isn't only costly in terms of health risks, it also cost the U.S. economy $891 billion in 2020.
That was almost 10 times the cigarette industry's $92 billion revenue, according to the authors of a new American Cancer Society study.
"Economic losses from cigarette smoking far outweigh any economic benefit from the tobacco industry -- wages, and salaries of those employed by t...
Millions of seniors who had to pay high increases in Medicare premiums this year will get a break in 2023 when they see a rare drop in monthly premiums for Medicare Part B.
The
Weeks after a stay in the hospital, your bill arrives and you can barely believe the amount due. How is this even possible if you have good health insurance and, more importantly, how will you pay it?
Unfortunately, you're not alone. More than one in 10 American adults and nearly one in five U.S. households have
Some survivors of sexual assault may face a further trauma after seeking medical care: a huge emergency room bill.
That's the finding of a new study that analyzed U.S. emergency department charges for care related to sexual assault. Researchers found that survivors wi...
Cancer patients already have a lot to deal with emotionally and physically. But research shows that insured patients under 65 are also paying more for their treatments out-of-pocket than ever before.
The study highlights the "growing financial burden for non-elderly patients with cancer with pri...
Naloxone is a lifesaving antidote to an opioid overdose, but it may be priced too high for those most vulnerable to opioid-related death, a new study finds.
Between 2014 and 2018, naloxone costs rose 500% for those without insurance, while out-of-pocket costs for the medication dropped 26% for people with i...
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, making it the most significant health care legislation enacted in more than a decade.
How will it affect health care?
Millions of Americans covered by Medicare will see big reductions in costs for both health care and...
The Biden Administration plans to stop buying COVID tests, vaccines and treatments as early as the fall, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Tuesday.
Under that plan, those products would be provided through the regular health care system, J...