Hidden Help: What Happened When Oregon Forced Hospitals to Boost Financial Aid?
In the second episode of our special series on medical debt, we explore lessons from Oregon’s aggressive legislation to push hospitals to prevent patients from falling into medical debt.
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Medical Debt Is Crushing Hospital Patients in Los Angeles. Public Health Officials May Have a Fix.
In Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, a new system could screen hospital patients for financial aid, preventing hundreds of thousands from getting bills they can’t pay.
Hidden Help: A New Push for Hospitals to Prevent Medical Debt
Hospitals can automatically wipe out the cost of care for low-income patients. A Tradeoffs analysis finds that hospitals in Texas could be doing more to protect people from unaffordable bills.
7 Takeaways From an Investigation Into Financial Aid at Texas Hospitals
Hospitals can prevent medical debt by preemptively wiping out a patient’s bill. But a Tradeoffs analysis finds that few nonprofit facilities in Texas use this tool to the maximum benefit of patients.
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Our free weekly newsletter turns complex health policy into actionable insights — helping you stay ahead, make better decisions, and understand the stories behind the headlines.
Exploring Solutions
This Federal Experiment Is Pouring Money into Mental Hospitals. Will It Work?
As states struggle to meet the needs of people with serious mental illness, some are signing on to a federal pilot project that’s pouring new funding into institutional care.
The Medicaid Policy Red and Blue States Agree On
More than half of states — from deep blue California to solidly red Louisiana — want to bring Medicaid behind bars in hopes of saving the lives of people as they leave jail and prison.
How Treating Teens’ Trauma Is Stopping Violence in Chicago
A Chicago violence prevention program is pairing cognitive behavioral therapy with intensive mentoring and wraparound support to help high-risk teens avoid incarceration.
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Tradeoffs helps you cut through the noise with clear, deeply reported journalism on the forces driving the health care’s toughest choices — reporting you won’t find anywhere else.
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Health Care Affordability
With Millions Expected to Lose Coverage, States Look for New Ways to Prevent Medical Debt
Economist Neale Mahoney explains the latest research on solutions to medical debt and evaluates policy fixes designed to protect consumers.
Republicans Want to Change How You Buy Health Care
President Trump and other leading conservatives are pushing policies they hope will empower patients to shop more wisely for the health care they need.
The U.S. Saved $1 Trillion on Health Care. Why Doesn’t It Feel Like It?
New research from leading health economist David Cutler explores what’s behind a historic slowdown in health spending, even as millions of Americans struggle to afford their care.
Artificial Intelligence
Making Medical Decisions with Uncertain Science
Two physicians and an ethicist discuss how to make the best decisions in areas like artificial intelligence and gender-affirming care when there is limited evidence in a live conversation recorded at Aspen Ideas: Health.
‘We Can’t Afford All These Humans’: A Doctor’s Take on AI in Health Care
We talk with physician and writer Bob Wachter about why he’s cautiously optimistic that artificial intelligence will usher in a ‘golden age’ of medicine — and the questions he still has about these powerful new…
Should I Trust AI to Diagnose Me?
Physician and New Yorker writer Dhruv Khullar says artificial intelligence is a powerful tool to get quicker and more accurate diagnoses. But it can also be dangerous.
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Make sense of health care through powerful stories.
Tradeoffs tells clear, compelling stories about the forces shaping health care costs, coverage, and policy decisions. Each episode helps you cut through complexity and see what’s really going on.
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More From Tradeoffs
Hospitals Have a Little-Known Tool to Prevent Medical Debt. Here’s How It Works.
Getting financial assistance from hospitals often involves filling out cumbersome applications. Some states now require hospitals to identify and automatically enroll patients eligible for charity care.
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