Health Care
Pulling Back the Curtain on the Health Industry and Regulation
How UnitedHealth’s Playbook for Limiting Mental Health Coverage Puts Countless Americans’ Treatment at Risk
United used an algorithm system to identify patients who it determined were getting too much therapy and then limited coverage. It was deemed illegal in three states, but similar practices persist due to a patchwork of regulation.
State Regulators Know Health Insurance Directories Are Full of Wrong Information. They’re Doing Little to Fix It.
State agencies say they’re holding insurers accountable for errors in provider directories. But ProPublica found that the actual actions taken so far do not match the regulators’ rhetoric.
How Lincare Became a Multibillion-Dollar Medicare Scofflaw
Lincare, the nation’s largest distributor of home oxygen equipment, has repeatedly violated Medicare rules and probation agreements, victimizing ailing patients and costing taxpayers huge sums. The federal government has done little to stop it.
An Idaho Baby’s Unexplained Death Got No Autopsy and a Scant Coroner’s Investigation. State Law Says That’s Fine.
With a lack of regulation for coroners, a child who dies unexpectedly or outside of a doctor’s care in Idaho is less likely to be autopsied than anywhere else in the United States.
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
Texas Lawmakers Push for New Exceptions to State’s Strict Abortion Ban After the Deaths of Two Women
The new legislation, prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, comes after 111 Texas doctors signed a public letter urging that the ban be changed because it “does not allow us as medical professionals to do our jobs.”
Georgia Judge Lifts Six-Week Abortion Ban After Deaths of Two Women Who Couldn’t Access Care
Abortion clinics rushed to provide care after a judge rejected the state’s ban, an order that could soon be paused by a higher court. It’s only the latest development since ProPublica reported the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller.
Did a Georgia Hospital Break Federal Law When It Failed to Save Amber Thurman? A Senate Committee Chair Wants Answers.
Thurman died after waiting 20 hours for emergency care under the state’s abortion ban. Sen. Ron Wyden demanded records his committee could review to determine whether the hospital violated the law. “It’s not even a question,” one expert said.
Series
Series: Life of the Mother: How Abortion Bans Lead to Preventable Deaths
Series: America’s Mental Barrier: How Insurers Interfere With Mental Health Care
Series: Veterans Without Assistance: Investigating Mental Health Care in the VA System
Series: Long-Term Challenge: Maine’s Lax Oversight of Residential Care Facilities
Series: With Every Breath: Millions of Breathing Machines. One Dangerous Defect
Series: Arterial Motives: The Big Business of Clogged Arteries
Series: The Hospice Hustle: How a Visionary Movement Became a Plaything for Profiteers
Series: Culture of Cruelty: Inside Illinois’ Mental Health System
Series: Stillbirths: When Babies Die Before Taking Their First Breath
Series: Crisis Point: How New York Wrecked Mental Health Care for Kids
Series: HeartWare: Deadly Malfunctions, FDA Inaction and Vulnerable Patients
Series: St. Jude’s Unspent Billions: Behind the Hospital’s Claims to Donors
Series: Birth Rights: Investigating Florida’s NICA Program
Series: State of Denial: Inside Arizona’s Division of Developmental Disabilities
Series: Critical Condition: Investigating the Business of Oklahoma’s Rural Hospitals
Series: Coronavirus: The U.S. Response to COVID-19
Series: Opioid Billionaires: The Deceptive Marketing of OxyContin
Series: A 911 Emergency: Rhode Island’s Deadly 911 Flaws
Series: The $3 Million Research Breakdown: University of Illinois at Chicago’s Troubling Study
Series: Sloan Kettering’s Crisis: A Reckoning Over Industry Ties
Series: A Sick System: Repeat Attacks After Pleading Insanity
Series: Trauma After Tragedy: PTSD in First Responders
Series: Stuck Kids: Illinois Children Languish in Psychiatric Hospitals
Series: Health Insurance Hustle: The Confounding Way We Pay for Care
Series: Heart Failure: The Decline of a Historic Transplant Program
Series: Lost Mothers: Maternal Care and Preventable Deaths
Series: Wasted Medicine: Squandered Health Care Dollars
Series: Policing Patient Privacy: Patient Privacy and Medical Care
Series: Examining Medicare: A Closer Look at Medicare Part B
Series: Obamacare and You: The Rollout of the Affordable Care Act
Series: Overdose: Acetaminophen and Accidental Overdoses
Series: Nursing Homes
Series: Patient Safety: Exploring Quality of Care in the U.S.
Series: Dialysis: High Costs and Hidden Perils of a Treatment Guaranteed to All
Series: Dollars for Doctors: How Industry Money Reaches Physicians
Series: Omniscan: Specter of MRI Disease Haunts General Electric
