Black communities in the U.S. suffer disproportionately from health care debt. The reasons go back to segregation and a history of racist policies that have limited Black wealth.
A youth mental health crisis and a shortage of therapists and other care providers who take insurance are pushing many U.S. families into financial ruin. But it's rarely acknowledged as medical debt.
New policies to keep medical bills from sinking credit ratings sound good but will likely fall short for many hit hardest by debt — especially Black Americans in the South, such as Penelope Wingard.
Across the U.S., many hospitals have become wealthy, even as their bills force patients to make gut-wrenching sacrifices. This pattern is especially stark for health care systems in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Montana is one of the latest states to suggest many nonprofit hospitals aren't giving back enough in charitable contributions to the community to justify their tax-exempt status.
Even after their babies died, hospital bills kept coming. These parents of fragile, very sick infants faced exorbitant bills — though they had insurance. "The process was just so heartless," one says.
The health care industry is obsessed with consumer satisfaction. But national patient surveys still don't get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care?
Religious rules guiding Catholic health care systems often mean their doctors can't prescribe contraceptives or perform tubal ligations. And sometimes that leaves patients with few other options.
A probe found troubling lapses in the country's organ transplant system. Blood types mismatched, diseased organs accidentally transplanted and donor organs lost or damaged in transit.
Some rural hospitals are in such bad shape, they're selling for next to nothing. One company is snapping several distressed or closed hospitals in rural Tennessee, hoping to turn a profit.
A deal on the table in Congress would help deliver on a long-time promise: to make prescription drugs more affordable. It includes a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare patients.
Delta-8 is a hemp product designed to get users high, but misleading labels or added chemicals have caused people to get sick. And a lack of federal regulation or guidance has states stepping in.
Debt lawsuits — a byproduct of America's medical debt crisis — can ensnare not only patients but also those who help sick and older people be admitted to nursing homes, a KHN-NPR investigation finds.
An NPR investigation found stalled confirmatory trials and lax enforcement are plaguing the FDA's accelerated approval of drugs for urgent medical needs.
Stalled confirmatory trials and lax enforcement plague the Food and Drug Administration's accelerated approval pathway for pharmaceuticals that target urgent medical needs.
