Julie Appleby
Recent Stories By Julie Appleby:
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What Takes So Long? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Steps Involved in Covid-19 TestingMarch 30, 2020
After a slow start, testing for COVID-19 has ramped up in recent weeks, with giant commercial labs jumping into the effort, drive-up testing sites established in some places and new types of tests...
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Trump Promises ‘Phenomenal’ Health Plan. What Might That Mean?September 4, 2019
While many Capitol Hill Republicans want to avoid a repeat of the Affordable Care Act repeal debate, President Donald Trump keeps promising a health plan that will be “phenomenal” and make the GOP “...
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Health Plans for State Employees Use Medicare’s Hammer on Hospital BillsMarch 21, 2019
States. They’re just as perplexed as the rest of us over the ever-rising cost of health care premiums. Now some states are moving to control costs of state employee health plans. And it’s triggering...
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The Remedy For Surprise Medical Bills May Lie In Stitching Up Federal LawSeptember 10, 2018
When Drew Calver had a heart attack last year, his health plan paid nearly $56,000 for the 44-year-old’s four-day emergency hospital stay at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, a hospital...
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The $1,000 Pill That Calls for a 'National Dialogue'May 29, 2014
The outcry continues over a $1,000 pill used to treat Hepatitis C made by California-based Gilead Sciences. While the drug is a significant advance over older treatments for the viral liver disease,...
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Insurers Cancel Plans for Thousands of Individual BuyersOctober 21, 2013
Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more...
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Big Price Swings in New Health Insurance MarketsOctober 7, 2013
Consumers shopping in the new health insurance marketplaces will face a bewildering array of competing plans in some counties and sparse options in other places, with people in some areas of the...
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Why Obamacare Will Keep ‘Junk’ Health InsuranceAugust 26, 2013
Consumer Reports calls it “junk health insurance.” A California regulator described them as “skeleton policies.” To an expert from the American Cancer Society, they “are a perfect example of why...
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The Truth About Obamacare Health Insurance PremiumsAugust 2, 2013
Premiums will skyrocket next year! Premiums will be lower than expected! Premiums will be about the same! Consumers are understandably confused after weeks of conflicting pronouncements...
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SCOTUS Ruling Won't Change United Healthcare's PlansJune 11, 2012
One of the nation's largest insurers said early Monday it would continue to follow some of the rules in the federal health law that are already in effect, including keeping young adults up to age 26...
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Consumers Finally Get $$$ Back from Health InsuranceApril 29, 2012
Millions of consumers and small businesses will receive an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates from their health plans this summer under a provision of the health care law that effectively limits what...
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Out-of-Network Outrage: Soaring Health CostsFebruary 9, 2012
When Sharon Smith chose an out-of-network specialist to perform a complicated jaw surgery on her teenage son last May, she knew it would cost her more. But she was not expecting a $15,000 difference...