Julie Appleby

The Affordable Care Act's future is uncertain and there's no end in sight to the pandemic. But for the 2021 insurance year consumers can expect to see modest increases in prices, if any.

A loved one's health could depend on the truth if you get a call from a real contact tracer about your exposure to the coronavirus. But beware impostors who ask you for payment or to click on a link.

Recently, the idea of contact tracing has triggered some colorful misinformation campaigns. It's actually a tried-and-true public health tool that can curb the spread of the coronavirus.

People with COVID-19 symptoms in March and April were often billed for expensive scans and bloodwork because they didn't qualify back then for a confirmatory coronavirus test. Some are crying foul.

Even many symptomatic patients and exposed health workers who are able to get a COVID-19 test must wait nearly a week to get results. Others get results in hours. Here's why it varies so much.

If someone tells you, "I'd love to go to dinner, but I'm socially distancing," don't be offended. It's likely they are trying to do their part for public health.

A young man averted disaster after a friend took him to the nearest hospital just before his appendix burst. But more than a year later, he's still facing a huge bill for his out-of-network surgery.

Reviving ideas that were argued over in the 1990s, Trump's new order on Medicare could have some unintended consequences, depending how it's implemented.

President Trump promises he has a "phenomenal" health plan if the ACA is overturned in court. Here's a glimpse, according to analysts and his advisers, of what might be included in a GOP health plan.

After a group of hospitals in Michigan implemented opioid prescribing guidelines, surgeons there reduced the number of pills they prescribed by around a third. Nationally numbers are slow to change.

The administration's rules would require hospitals to provide far more detail about the actual prices they charge insurers for medical care. Would patients welcome the data, or feel overwhelmed?

A broad executive order issued Monday is supposed to help consumers get better estimates of health care costs. But whether it will be a game-changer depends on the details, health care analysts say.

These job-based programs can motivate employees to make some changes in behavior, research finds, but they don't seem to move the dial on workers' health status or employer spending on health care.

Some states have begun using Medicare reimbursement rates to recalibrate how they pay hospitals. If the gamble pays off, more private-sector employers could start doing the same thing.

Well-known insurers are selling new sorts of health plans outside the Affordable Care Act exchanges that may sound cheaper but aren't necessarily. Some, for example, charge extra for common surgeries.

An animal lover stopped to feed a hungry-looking stray cat outside Everglades National Park in Florida. The cat bit her finger; then treatment for a possible rabies infection bit her pocketbook.

An air traffic controller is just one employee locked into the terms of a health plan because of the ongoing federal shutdown. It's meant his child's hospital bills are "out-of-network."

Basic health insurance for most affected federal workers will stay in effect, but circumstances are murkier for contractors.

Trump administration efforts to undo Obama-era health insurance rules have helped increase sales of limited health plans that cost consumers less than traditional coverage.

The Trump administration offered states specific examples Thursday of how they could change the way they implement the Affordable Care Act. Critics say Trump's plan could drive up premiums for many.