Insights

So-called "surprise bills" can leave unsuspecting patients on the hook for thousands of dollars. And market solutions haven't fixed the problem so far, writes UCLA health policy expert Gerald Kominski.

The case of Dr. Reinaldo de los Heros illustrates a troubling tendency for critical information about a physician to go missing. State medical boards could do much more to keep the online paper trail intact over time.

“Open data, to my mind, is about empowering communities with numbers presented in useful ways that can help fuel real-world change,” writes CHCF's Andy Krackov. Here he offers some tips on how we can make that happen.

The healthcare industry’s dominance of our political process and lack of concern for public well-being, follows the same loathsome strategy employed by the tobacco industry. Healthcare is big business that aims to maximize profits. Healthcare economics, like the selling of tobacco in its heyday.

Upwards of two-thirds of uninsured kids in the U.S. are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, but aren’t enrolled. New research suggests parent mentors could be a highly effective solution to getting more low-income kids insured, with potentially huge cost savings.

The Atlantic is seeking an experienced journalist to serve as their new assistant editor for science, technology, and health coverage. Check out this and other opportunities in this week's jobs roundup.

It was the disturbing practice of force-feeding that led author Ann Neumann to reach out to Connecticut prisoner Bill Coleman. The journalist-source relationship that ensued highlighted for Neumann the importance of “frank communication” over what makes it into the story.

Finding out about a doctor's record from state medical boards isn't as easy as it should be. Consider the story of Kelly Deyo, who died of a prescription overdose last year. Her doctor's record spans four states, but the details aren't easy to unearth.

Why is mental health so walled off from the rest of the health care system, even when statistics show that 18 percent of all adults have some kind of mental illness? And weren't federal parity requirements supposed to fix this?