A two month coma, a misdiagnosis and a $3 million bill.
The health industry is gearing up to be a major influence in 2020, and making it known from the first round of campaign contributions. Tarbell reviewed the top 20 health industry contributors in the 2017-2018 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets, to see how much they’ve shelled out in the...
For an example of just how heartless and profit-obsessed health insurers are, take a look at what is playing out in Connecticut, where my former employer, Cigna, is based. Low income people with diabetes in Connecticut and other states are having a hard time...
Ascension Health Alliance caught some attention last month when the nation’s largest Catholic hospital system formed a partnership with Google to find and use patient data in a more efficient way. But for those who are watching Ascension’s business practices, this seems more of a practical move to cut...
I’ve been thinking a lot about health-care mergers and acquisitions lately, and I must confess, it’s making me dizzy. All of this head-spinning thought was prompted primarily by the creation of Ballad Health Care, now the sole hospital system for my entire region of the country. Ballad was established about...
A campaign cobbled together on a tight deadline required by Oklahoma’s strict referendum law, battled and won a narrow victory last Tuesday to amend the state’s constitution and mandate the expansion of Medicaid, overcoming the opposition of a Republican governor and legislature and major out-of-state funding for...
When most Americans think of the rights and principles that our country was founded on, we refer to the ideals of freedom, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness written in the Declaration of Independence. However, have our political institutions evolved from this 18th century premise? When we...
Wendell Potter A word to the wise: During this coronavirus crisis, keep an eye on every move of my old industry: health insurers. Behind the PR spin, they’ll be doing everything they can to deny care and maintain profits while making it look...
Experts are warning that within two to four weeks the United States will find itself facing a full-blown pandemic caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. We often hear mindless propaganda from conservative and liberal politicians alike declaring the the US has “the best health care...
In the 1960s, with no funding for long-term, chronic dialysis, hospital committees decided who would live and die. It was the federal government that put an end to this practice.
As health insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital companies fight to prevent more politicians from backing Medicare for All, the industry’s front group has turned to top Democratic consulting firms and pro-business nonprofits for help, according to its 2018 tax return. The array of consultants includes presidential candidate Joe Biden’s pollster. The...
When affording health care is already a burden for Americans in rural and underserved regions, making patients spend additional hours and gas money for basic and emergency health needs adds insult to injury. Yet this is exactly what Tennessee and Virginia lawmakers allowed to happen. In 2018, two rival health...