An Arm and a Leg: A Listener Fighting the Good Fight

Joey Ballard is an internal medicine resident at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He wrote to “An Arm and a Leg” about a resolution the American Medical Association recently adopted calling on hospitals to do more to make sure patients who qualify for charity care get it. And that legislators and regulators make sure that’s happening….

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Oct. 1 Virtual Event: What the 2024 Election Could Mean for Health Coverage, Affordability, and the Budget

As the 2024 presidential election draws near, there are sharp differences in former President Trump’s and Vice President Harris’ records on health coverage and spending, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and more. At Noon ET on Tuesday, October 1, Larry Levitt, KFF’s executive vice president for health policy, will moderate a 45-minute…More

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Watching Where and How You’re Walking

By MIKE MAGEE In a speech to the American Philosophical Society in January, 1946, J. Robert Oppenheimer said, “We have made a thing …that has altered abruptly and profoundly the nature of the world…We have raised again the question of whether science is good for man, of whether it is good to learn about the…

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How does hospital participation in a Medicare Advantage preferred network impact commercial reimbursement?

How does a hospital’s participation in a health plan’s Medicare Advantage (MA) provider network impact their commercial rates? Since many insurers offer both MA plans and commercial plans, there could be spillovers with respect to negotiating. How would MA network participation impact commercial rates? Marr et al. (2025) offers some hypotheses: On the one hand,…

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