Since 2018, readers and listeners sent KFF Health News-NPR's "Bill of the Month" thousands of questionable bills. Our crowdsourced investigation paved the way for landmark legislation and highlighted cost-saving strategies for all patients
Kristie Fields, a cancer patient in Virginia was urged to go public to seek help for her medical bills. But she worried about feeding hurtful stereotypes.
A health system charged a woman for a shoulder replacement she didn't need and hadn't received. She didn't receive the care, but she did receive the bill — and some medical records of a stranger.
A dump of tens of thousands of colossal digital files from a single insurer is not unusual, and it'll be weeks before data firms can put the information in a usable format for employers and patients.
New government rules are forcing insurers to post on websites what they pay for care or be fined, allowing consumers and employers to comparison shop for health services or negotiate better rates.
Some consumers sign up for Obamacare and find out later they actually purchased a membership to a health care sharing ministry. But regulators and online advertising sites don't do much about it.
A dad's COVID-19 and a mom's fainting spell cost thousands, so when their son dislocated his shoulder, they drove him to Mexicali, where facilities rival those in the U.S., and had him treated for $5.
A family received a $4,928 bill that was settled with the health system 18 months earlier, resurrecting painful memories. Hospital billing experts say this distressing scenario occurs frequently.
To realign the man's jaw and ease his chronic pain and high blood pressure, he would need two operations, the surgeon said. Both procedures went well, but the patient was shocked by the second bill.
As Community Health Systems has downsized, what remain are like zombie hospitals – little more than legal entities still taking patients to court even though the new owners don't sue.
ER doctors wanted to hospitalize the young man to help ease his withdrawal from opioid dependence. But he declined because he couldn't afford it. His mom says no one told him he had financial options.
The University of Miami Health System charged truck driver José Mendoza six times what Medicare would pay for an overnight test. He got trapped by his high-deductible health plan and sky-high billing.
