The Dahlen Company Commentary

Most people know by now that the risk of severe illness from the coronavirus rises with age. But is it only the elderly who are most at risk for a bad case of coronavirus?  No, it’s not. […]

The future of Medicare is still in jeopardy. The hospital fund, known as Part A Medicare, will be depleted by 2026 according to a new report. The annual Medicare Board of Trustees sent its 2020 […]

It’s hard to believe that less than six weeks have passed since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic. We have survived the shock of hospitals as war zones, a tent […]

Gretchen M. Dahlen, president and chief executive officer of Consumer Health Ratings, has been named to the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). […]

Last year, health insurance for a single person in the US private sector cost $6,715 on average. Annual open enrollment is nearly here for 2020. Now is a good time to gather your research on both […]

The $2 million wonder drug is called Zolgensma. It’s made for infants and kids up to age 2 who have spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).  The rare disease is inherited. The new gene therapy drug […]

We had just finished celebrating the 50-year anniversary of man’s landing on the moon.  When abruptly, troubling news appeared that famed astronaut Neil Armstrong may have died from […]

Speed is probably the first thing you think of, if you need an Emergency Room. Should consumers be concerned about ER waiting time at their nearby hospital’s Emergency Department?  Check […]

Based on DNA evidence, a male LPN was arrested Jan. 23 and charged with sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult who resided at Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix. He allegedly raped and […]

The short answer is a lot.  The average cost for people visiting the Emergency Room in 2014 was $1533, up 7.7% from 2013.  The median “typical” cost was $749 per person.  […]

Starting in August 2020, a new episode every other week. No time like a pandemic to learn more about how to fight the high cost of health care. […]

President Donald Trump’s sobering view of COVID-19 didn’t last long – this week, he was back to pushing hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has been shown not to work in treating the virus. Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill are still scrambling to agree among themselves and with the White House on the next coronavirus relief bill, as both a moratorium on evictions and extra unemployment payments expire. And the debate over drug prices, which was going to be one of the biggest health issues of this election year, makes a brief appearance. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Markian Hawryluk, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” story about a surprise bill from a surprise surgical assistant. […]

"CBS This Morning" features the July installment of KHN-NPR's Bill of the Month about a surgical assistant's out-of-network bill for helping during knee surgery. […]

President Donald Trump has, for now at least, become a realist on the extent of the COVID-19 crisis around the country, and he is urging Americans to socially distance and wear masks. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans facing a July 31 deadline are scrambling to come together on their version of the next COVID relief bill. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Tami Luhby of CNN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews NPR’s Pam Fessler, author of the new book “Carville’s Cure,” which traces the history of the United States’ only federal leprosarium. […]

A college student’s bill for outpatient knee surgery is a whopper — $96K — but the most mysterious part is a $1,167 charge from a health care provider she didn’t even know was in the operating room. […]