Nanticoke Health Services expects to join the Peninsula Regional Health System on Dec. 31 in a move that will help the combined organization provide greater access to local patients and help Nanticoke avoid joining the number of small hospitals that are going out of business.
In April 2017, a man named Drew Calver thought he was dying. A heart attack had pinned him to the floor of his bedroom. His neighbor took him to St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, where he was successfully treated. Weeks later, he received a bill from the hospital: That’ll be $108,951.31, please. St. David’s was out of network on his insurance, and Aetna had only paid $55,840 of the total $164,941 bill for his treatment.
The stock market is having a banner year, despite the trade war with China and worries about a looming economic slowdown. But health care stocks aren't taking part in the rally. Three of the worst stocks in the Dow this year are drug store giant Walgreens, Big Pharma king Pfizer (PFE) and top insurer UnitedHealth.
Massachusetts met its self-imposed goal of controlling the growth in health spending last year, according to a new state report — but the cost burden on consumers continued to rise at a worrying pace. Statewide health care spending grew to an estimated $60.9 billion in 2018, or $8,827 per person, according to the study from the state Center for Health Information and Analysis. That’s a 3.1 percent increase from the previous year and in line with the state benchmark for controlling spending.
When Colorado’s public health insurance option rolls out on the individual market in a few years, the state won’t be running the plans offered to consumers. Instead, the coverage will be administered by private insurance companies, which also will bear the brunt of the costs, according to initial details of the proposal.
Health-care costs for retirees have climbed to $285,000 — not including expenses not covered by Medicare, such as dental, basic vision, over-the-counter medicines and long-term care. Here are a few steps you can take to mitigate those costs.