According to a Kaiser Health News / NPR investigation, 100 million Americans are saddled with medical debt. This includes 41% of adults. KHN reports that more than half of adults have gone into debt to pay for medical bills within the past five years. One quarter of those with medical debt owe more than $5,000, while 20% never expect to pay it off. Going into debt to pay medical bills is no worse than indebtedness for a car, house, a boat or designer clothes. However, much of this debt is despite having health coverage of some type.
Category: Health Insurance
$783.5M in Covid Relief Money Went to Prisoners
Passed in March, the American Rescue Plan granted $1,400 in stimulus money to people making less than $75,000 per year. Republicans objected to sending these checks to incarcerated individuals, but lost on a party line vote. According to a Fox News report:
In response to a public records request from conservative group American Crossroads, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed that the money flowed to 560,000 individuals who were incarcerated for the full tax year 2020.
Among the recipients of Covid money was the Boston Marathon Bomber.
The FTC wants to Know if Middlemen Increase Drug Prices
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is opening an investigation into the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs have been in the hotseat for quite some time. Executives from the largest PBMs were recently called to testify before Congress to explain whether their business practices lead to higher drug prices. In the latest inquiry, the FTC announced it will require the six largest PBMs to provide a range of information and business records on operations.
Is it OK for Apple and Walmart Associates to be on Medicaid?
The CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan recently blogged about walking into an Apple store in downtown Los Angeles and discovering the sales associate who assisted him was a client. L.A. Care is a purveyor of both Medicaid managed care plans and Obamacare plans sold on the Covered California health insurance marketplace. He was aghast when the sale associate said she was covered through Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program.