INDEX

1. Section 2: Consumer Trends

This section will help the consumer what and how current healthcare trends will affect them.

2. Doctors Are Disappearing From Emergency Rooms as Hospitals Look to Cut Costs

WOW....Consumer should know what to look for.

3. Era of ‘Free’ Covid Vaccines, Test Kits, and Treatments Is Ending. Who Will Pay the Tab Now?

New regulations to cost the consumer more

4. Health Benefit Cost Growth Will Accelerate to 5.6% in 2023, Mercer Survey Finds

Healthcare consumers should be expecting their insurance premiums to increase in 3023.  The following data provided by Mercer outlines the increases

5. Reentry Programs to Help Former Prisoners Obtain Health Care Are Often Underused

A little used program to help released prisoners.

6. New analysis: CMS vastly overestimates hospital price transparency efforts By Cynthia A. FisherMarch 2, 2023

The Healthcare Consumer is not winning. Check out this article.

7. Patients Get Break On Test Approvals

Consumers will benefit from this change..

8. Texas judge strikes down major Obamacare provision protecting preventive care

Buyer Beware,,,This may cost you more out of pocket expenses..

9. No-Cost Preventive Services Are Now in Jeopardy. Here’s What You Need to Know. By Julie Appleby APRIL 7, 2023

Consumers Beware. This could cost more out of pocket expense.

10. 14% of hospitals comply with price transparency, survey finds: 4 things to know

In a survey of 1,000 hospitals, 14.3 percent were compliant with the federal price transparency rule that took effect Jan. 1, 2021, a February report by patientrightsadvocate.org found

11. Patients from poorer counties get worse hospital care, report finds

A report published last year from 3M’s Clinical and Economic Research division shows how Medicare patients living in lower-income and lower-education areas experience more preventable harm from hospital care, even after adjusting for patient ris

12. A drug for pregnant women doesn’t work, according to the FDA. A company is selling it anyway

American babies are at far higher risk of dying before their first birthdays than those in almost any other wealthy country. A big reason for those deaths, more than 21,000 each year, is that too many are born too soon

13. Maggots, Rape and Yet Five Stars: How U.S. Ratings of Nursing Homes Mislead the Public

But a New York Times investigation, based on the most comprehensive analysis of the data that powers the ratings program, found that it is broken.

14. My Drug Copay Coupon a Form of Charity — Or a Bribe?

If a drugmaker is offering copay assistance, you can assume the list price of the drug is high, but I wasn’t sure how high. Did this outwardly kind offer represent, essentially, a kind of bribe?

15. The Doctor Didn’t Show Up, but the Hospital ER Still Charged $1,012

When the surgeon didn’t appear after more than an hour, the wife took her son home. The hospital told her to make a follow-up appointment with a doctor, which turned out to be unnecessary because the burn healed quickly.

16. Watchdog: Private Medicare plans denied nearly 1 in 5 claims that should have been paid

A government watchdog report released Thursday found private Medicare plans routinely rejected claims that should have been paid and denied services that reviewers found to be medically necessary.

17. When you're charged a copay you shouldn't owe

This is part of Axios' series, Billed and Confused. Have you been hit with an unexpected medical bill? Maybe the overall medical billing experience left you feeling puzzled or upset? Email bob@axios.com, so we can dig into what's happening. Note: this story was originally published on Jan. 20.

18. Why Millions on Medicaid Are at Risk of Losing Coverage in the Months Ahead

The Biden administration and state officials are bracing for a great unwinding: millions of people losing their Medicaid benefits when the pandemic health emergency ends. Some might sign up for different insurance. Many others are bound to get lost in the transition.

19. Most medical debt will be dropped from consumers' credit reports BY AIMEE PICCHI

Medical bills have become a source of major financial trouble for millions of Americans, amounting to the largest source of personal debt in the U.S. Now, the top three credit reporting agencies plan to drop most medical debt from consumers' credit reports starting this summer.

20. Non-Charitable’ Nonprofit Hospital Ordered to Start Paying Property Taxes Jan. 7, 2022, 3:45 AM Bloomberg Tax

In many US cities, large, nonprofit hospitals, health centers, universities, and colleges—"meds and eds"—pay little, if any, property taxes. That could be changing. Bill Kennedy and Jared Johnson of White and Williams, LLP, warn that litigation is now challenging their nonprofit nature.

21. Section 3: For Politicians and Concerned Citizens-Billions of Taxpayers Wasted Dollars..

Waste is defined as the thoughtless or careless expenditure, mismanagement, or abuse of resources to the detriment (or potential detriment) of the U.S. government. Waste also includes incurring unnecessary costs resulting from inefficient or ineffective practices, systems, or controls.

22. “Eye-popping” executive salaries led these hospitals to lose their property tax benefits BY Judith Garber | March 3, 2023

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE....HOSPITALS CEO SALARIES ARE OUTRAGEOUS

23. Proposed Medicare Advantage Changes Cannot Accurately Be Called ‘Cuts,’ Experts Say By Madison Czopek, PolitiFact and Yacob Reyes, PolitiFact FEBRUARY 22, 2023

This is unbelievable,,,,read this and call your Santor or Representative!

24. Hospital outpatient billing draws bipartisan heat

This is a major rip off!! Healthcare consumers end up paying more!!

25. Eliminate Waste And Unlock Value In Healthcare Software Spend

Another example of Healthcare Waste.

26. Medicare Delays a Full Crackdown on Private Health Plans

Another recent example of WASTE!!

27. CHS' 5 highest-earning executives in 2022 Alexis Kayser - Thursday, March 30th, 2023 Becker's

CONSUMERS......This is outrageous....thus is why healthcare costs are so high!!!!

28. HHS misallocated hospitals' pandemic relief funds, Congress alleges By Alexis Kayser

More Government Waste

29. FAIR SHARE SPENDING: How much are hospitals giving back to their communities? 2023 RESULTS

Hospital maintain thier tax exempt by Fair Sharing Spending. Check out which hospitals are coupling or not.