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Paul Davis is a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, who gets weekly treatments of the drug Kimmtrak to help stave off the progression of his rare cancer — uveal melanoma. He worries the accumulating cost of the drug — nearly $50,000/week if he has to pay it out of pocket — could saddle his family with crushing medical debt after he's gone. Maddie McGarvey for KHN hide caption

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Maddie McGarvey for KHN

Diagnosing and treating patients was once an ER doctor's domain, but they are increasingly being replaced by health practitioners who can perform many of the same duties and generate much the same revenue for less than half the pay. Phil Fisk/Image Source via Getty Images hide caption

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Phil Fisk/Image Source via Getty Images

ERs staffed by private equity firms aim to cut costs by hiring fewer doctors

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Activists hold a banner reading "Take down the Sackler name" in front of the Pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris on July 1, 2019. Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images

'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' chronicles Nan Goldin's career of art and activism

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New York state records show nearly half the state's 600-plus nursing homes hired real estate, management and staffing companies run or controlled by their owners, frequently paying them well above the cost of services. Meanwhile, in the pandemic's height, the federal government was giving the facilities hundreds of millions in fiscal relief. Maskot/Getty Images hide caption

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Maskot/Getty Images

Humira, the injectable biologic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, now faces its first competition from one of several copycat "biosimilar" drugs expected to come to market this year. Some patients spend $70,000 a year on Humira. JB Reed/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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JB Reed/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Scant obesity training in medical school leaves docs ill-prepared to help patients

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Jeff and Kareen King received a hospital bill for $160,000 a few weeks after Jeff had a procedure to restore his heart rhythm. Bram Sable-Smith/KHN hide caption

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Bram Sable-Smith/KHN

An investigation of more than 500 U.S. hospitals show that many use aggressive practices to collect on unpaid medical bills. More than two-thirds have policies that allow them to sue patients or take other legal actions against them, such as garnishing wages.This includes high-profile medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic. Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

In 2013, Grace E. Elliott spent a night in a hospital in Florida for a kidney infection that was treated with antibiotics. Eight years later, she got a large bill from the health system that bought the hospital. This bill was for an unrelated surgical procedure she didn't need and never received. It was a case of mistaken identity, she knew, but proving that wasn't easy. Shelby Knowles for KHN hide caption

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Shelby Knowles for KHN

The case of the two Grace Elliotts: a medical bill mystery

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Dr. Eckart Rolshoven examines a patient at his clinic in Püttlingen, a small town in Germany's Saarland region. Although Germany has a largely private health care system, patients pay nothing out-of-pocket when they come to see him. Pasquale D'Angiolillo for KHN hide caption

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Pasquale D'Angiolillo for KHN

Lessons from Germany to help solve the U.S. medical debt crisis

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Lucy Greco (left), a web-accessibility specialist at the University of California, Berkeley, is blind. She reads most of her documents online, but employs Liza Schlosser-Olroyd as an aide to sort through her paper mail every other month, to make sure Greco hasn't missed a bill or other important correspondence. Shelby Knowles for KHN hide caption

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Shelby Knowles for KHN

Jerry Bilinski, a retired social worker who lives in Fayetteville, N.C., says he deserves a full explanation from his medical team of what led to a small gash on his forehead during his surgery for a cataract. Eamon Queeney for KHN hide caption

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Eamon Queeney for KHN

He woke up from eye surgery with a gash on his forehead. What happened?

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Many hospitals are now partnering with financing companies to offer payment plans when patients and their families can't afford their bills. The catch: the plans can come with interest that significantly increases a patient's debt. sesame/Getty Images hide caption

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sesame/Getty Images

Diagnosed with cancer five years ago, Monica Reed of Knoxville, Tennessee, was left with nearly $10,000 in medical bills she couldn't pay. Medical debt is more prevalent among the Black community in Knoxville, than among whites. Jamar Coach for KHN and NPR hide caption

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Jamar Coach for KHN and NPR

Why Black Americans are more likely to be saddled with medical debt

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Paul Hinds has navigated the financial maze of health care during treatment for prostate cancer with the help of his girlfriend, Dr. Josie Tenore. Taylor Glascock/Taylor Glascock hide caption

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Taylor Glascock/Taylor Glascock

It cost $38,398 for a single shot of a very old cancer drug

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Jesse Zhang for NPR and KHN

Paying for mental health care leaves families in debt and isolated

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Penelope Wingard of Charlotte, N.C., has survived breast cancer, a brain aneurysm and surgery on both eyes. For the past eight years, she's also been battling tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt. Aneri Pattani/ KHN hide caption

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Aneri Pattani/ KHN

Medical debt ruined her credit. 'It's like you're being punished for being sick'

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Shots - Health News

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