Sarah Kliff
@sarahkliff
Investigations and health policy for the @nytimes. I like reading your medical bills.
1.1K Following 124K Followers
New exclusive: In his 25 years as an OBGYN, Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas repeatedly sued patients for outstanding medical debt. At least 81 were arrested during their court proceedings. Some had debt from c-sections; others from miscarriages.
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NSA expert folks fact-check me here, but wouldn't the No Surprises Act prevent a surprise bill for air ambulance transit in a case like this??
Margot and I will be continuing to report on No Surprises Act this year. If you have a tip to share related to the law, get in touch! sarah.kliff@nytimes.com
@sarahkliff In our reporting, we found numerous examples where surgical assistants out-earned surgeons by using the NSA's arbitration system. For this scoliosis surgery, the assistant won 24x the main surgeon's fee.
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For context, surgical assistants typically earn $70,000 to $100,000 per year.
We found that some have used No Surprises Act arbitration to earn $22,000 per hour.
.@msk & I dug into what surgical assistants are earning in No Surprises Act arbitration. We found surgical assistants' earning:
—$50,000 for a prostate surgery
—$100,000 for a breast reconstruction (just right breast, not left)
—$210,000 for a facial feminization procedure
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.@msk & I dug into what surgical assistants are earning in No Surprises Act arbitration. We found surgical assistants' earning:
—$50,000 for a prostate surgery
—$100,000 for a breast reconstruction (just right breast, not left)
—$210,000 for a facial feminization procedure
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Surgical assistants often earn $70,000 to $100,000 for helping doctors suture and retract.
Some are taking advantage of a consumer protection law to earn $210,000 for a single operation, we found in our new @nytimes investigation.
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Doctors are winning big paydays from insurers under a law intended to protect patients and rein in high prices.
@nytimes reporter Margot Sanger-Katz @sangerkatz talked with Tradeoffs about how this is fueling higher premiums.
Listen to today's episode:
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New York will soon be a litmus test for politicians' appetite to reform this system.
@GovKathyHochul is trying exempt Medicaid claims from this kind of arbitration. Hospitals and doctors are fiercely lobbying against it, so lawmakers have been reticent to come on board.
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The big surprise of the No Surprises Act: Doctors are cashing in on the consumer protection law, getting paid $440,000 for breast reductions and $14,000 for steroid injections.
Latest investigation with @sangerkatz:
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The Medicaid work requirement the House passed this morning is the strictest version of the policy that Congress has ever put forward.
Diving into the details with @sangerkatz:
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Medicaid is a more cost-effective way to save lives than lots of other things the government pays for, like vehicle inspections or some cancer treatments.
More from me + @sangerkatz on a big new Medicaid study:
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A definitive new study, which uses detailed death and tax records for more than 37 million Americans, finds Medicaid expansion has saved over 27,000 lives.
If you want to understand the problem of "waste, fraud, and abuse" in federal health programs, you should read this great piece by @sarahkliff and @katie_thomas on scammy skin substitute comanies.
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