Category Archives: Uncategorized

Why it’s important to cover hospitals suing patients over medical debt 

A survey from KFF shows one in seven adults in the United States who have health care debt say a medical provider has denied them care due to their debt. Source: KFF Health Care Debt Survey (Feb. 25-Mar. 20, 2022). https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-health-care-debt-survey-main-findings/ accessed dec. 23, 2022.

Recent news shows the need for health care journalists to investigate the aggressive measures hospitals use when patients can’t pay their medical bills.

On Dec. 21, Noam N. Levey, an award-winning senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News (KHN), reported that when patients can’t pay their bills, hundreds of the nation’s hospitals file lawsuits against those patients, sell patients’ bad-debt accounts to debt buyers and report patients to credit rating agencies. 

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Journalists intensify coverage of the harms of private equity 

Photo via Canva

Critical coverage of private equity firms — which buy companies and restructure their operations in order to quickly sell them for a profit— has been picking up.

In the last six months:

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Why using the term ‘immunity debt’ is problematic for reporters

Photo by Gustavo Fring via pexels.

As the number of hospitalized children with influenza, RSV, COVID-19 and other infections continues to soar, multiple media outlets have published stories suggesting one of the causes of the severity of illnesses is “immunity debt,” because of social distancing and masking measures taken during the height of the pandemic.

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A reporter considers the consequences of publishing a source’s legal status

Marc Ramirez

Millions of unauthorized immigrant adults — who represent more than 80% of immigrants living in the United States illegally — contribute to public health programs they may never benefit from because of their legal status. In a recent story that highlighted the lack of health care coverage for undocumented older people, Marc Ramirez, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, interviewed a man from Mexico, in part because the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants are from Latin America.  Continue reading

The older population is growing and becoming more diverse

Photo by Street Phonicz Photography via nappy.co

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has published its profile of older Americans 2021, an annual summary of critical statistics related to the older population. The updated report shows an older population that’s increasing in size and diversity.

There’s a wealth of data in this report journalists can use as a starting point to report on local and state social services, community programs, Medicaid expenditures, housing, transportation and myriad other issues affecting older adults — defined by the Administration on Aging as those 65 and older.

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