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An average of 13,776 inmates in 45 California counties were on psychotropic medications in 2016-2017, a recent report found. That is up from 10,999 five years ago.

Big Jump Seen In Number Of Inmates Prescribed Psychiatric Drugs In California

Amid a severe shortage of psychiatric beds and community-based treatment throughout the state and nation, county jails have become repositories for people in the throes of acute mental health crises.

Whistleblower Alleges Fraud At A Large Medicare Advantage Plan In Seattle

As the Trump administration calls for expanding access to Medicare Advantage, a federal whistleblower lawsuit accuses a large Medicare Advantage plan of bilking Medicare out of $8 million.

Since its passage, the Affordable Care Act has been the subject of multiple court cases and attempts to derail it in Congress — attempts that garnered protests in 2017 and beyond. The law has survived, so far, but a key provision was struck down Wednesday in federal court.

Obamacare Takes Another Hit In Federal Appeals Court Ruling

A federal court in New Orleans has declared a portion of the health law unconstitutional, asking the lower court to reconsider the rest. This leaves the future of the law in limbo.

Health insurers say the U.S. government owes them more than $12 billion in payments that were rescinded by a Republican-controlled Congress. The money was supposed to subsidize insurers' expected losses between 2014 and 2016.

ACA Insurers In The Supreme Court: Why Consumers Should Pay Attention

The case centers on $12 billion in payments the federal government pledged to insurers to defray their losses in the first years of the health law. Did rescinding those payments send premiums soaring?

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints

Matching the sickest patients with social workers and medical support doesn't reduce costly hospital readmissions, a study finds. Still, some believe greater social investment could make a difference.

Arline Feilen (left) and her sister, Kathy McCoy, at their mother's home in the Chicago suburbs. The biggest chunk of Feilen's bill was $16,480 for four nights in a room shared with another patient. McCoy joked that it would have been cheaper to stay at the Ritz-Carlton.

A Woman's Grief Led To A Mental Health Crisis And A $21,634 Hospital Bill

A woman in Illinois spent five days in the hospital undergoing psychiatric care to help her through a mental health crisis. The bill she got is about the same price as a new Honda Civic.

Service dogs can be trained to provide very different types of support to their human companions, as medical students learn from interacting with "Shetland," a highly skilled retriever-mix.

High-Ranking Dog Provides Key Training For Military's Medical Students

Service dogs are a common sight at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, near Washington, D.C. But this special canine trains would-be healers how to pick the right dog for a wounded veteran.

Tom and Dana Saputo sit in their backyard with their three dogs. Tom Saputo's double-lung transplant was fully covered by insurance, but he was responsible for an $11,524.79 portion of the charge for an air ambulance ride.

The Air Ambulance Billed More Than The Lung Transplant Surgeon

After Tom Saputo underwent a double-lung transplant in 2018, he was stunned by the more than $11,000 bill for his share of a 27-mile air ambulance ride from one hospital to another.

For the third year in a row, the percentage of companies that offer high-deductible plans as the sole health insurance option will decline in 2020, according to a survey of large employers by the National Business Group on Health.

Firms Seeking Top Workers Find They Can't Offer Only High-Deductible Health Plans

Big firms are again offering more generous health plans alongside or instead of policies with sky-high deductibles. Why? They need to do so to stay competitive and recruit top talent.

Medicare's overhauled Plan Finder debuted at the end of August. But health care advocates and insurance agents say the website has had big problems ever since, including inaccurate details about prices, which drugs each plan covers and their dosages.

Will Glitches In Medicare's 'Plan Finder' Leave Some Seniors Stuck In The Wrong Plan?

With a deadline for Medicare enrollment looming, some lawmakers and advocates are concerned that Medicare hasn't done enough to reach out to consumers who might be affected by website problems.

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