Michelle Andrews

Corrections officials are increasingly using remote appointments to handle specialized needs, such as psychiatric, cancer and cardiac care.

Rule changes from the Trump administration offer exemptions for people in areas with only one marketplace plan, as well as for some who oppose abortion and can't find a health plan that excludes it.

An agency that advises Congress recommends a 30 percent reduction in some federal reimbursements to free-standing ERs that are within 6 miles of a hospital.

The measure would allow Medicare to reimburse audiologists for a range of services, including helping patients learn how to use and adjust their hearing aids for different social situations correctly.

The new calculation reduces by $50 the amount a family can put into these HSA accounts this year. Anyone who has already funded the account at a higher level will need to adjust, or risk IRS scrutiny.

In a program called OB Nest, The Mayo Clinic has been using a telemedicine program that allows low-risk expectant mothers to forgo some standard prenatal visits.

Beyond annual flu shots, older adults need protection against shingles, pneumonia, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, federal health officials say. But many aren't getting vaccinated.

Only about a third of U.S. adults have advance directives in place to guide the care they receive if they become too ill to make their own medical decisions.

Starting in September, the three main credit agencies will wait 180 days before including medical debt on a credit report, giving consumers time to resolve disputes with insurers.

The bill H.R. 1215 would limit awards for non-economic damages — such as pain and suffering — to $250,000. President Trump supports the bill, but many others across the political spectrum don't.

Many patients liked the Qliance approach, which gave them unlimited access to a provider for a modest fee and freed doctors from insurance paperwork. But critics say the approach may not be viable.

With the 2018 health insurance market still in play, you might want to extend your job-based insurance until this fall, when the outlines of the health law's marketplaces should become clearer.

Roughly 300 health care systems around the country have set up medical-legal collaborations to help patients solve legal problems that can affect their health — at little or no cost to the patients.

A rules change lets insurers and brokers sell health coverage on the federal exchange directly. That should be easier, but also raises questions about whether customers get unbiased information.

If states opted to change so-called essential health benefits, as the current health care bill allows, out-of-pocket spending limits and caps on coverage in large group insurance plans could weaken.

In some states, a break in health coverage of more than 63 days would let insurers charge premiums of any price for a year — putting health insurance out of reach for many sick people, analysts say.

Some hospitals and oncology practices are setting up urgent care sites tailored to the needs of cancer patients, to help keep them out of the emergency room when complications or side effects arise.

Some urge ending funding to the Children's Health Insurance Program, and moving those 8 million kids to marketplace plans. But research shows the out-of-pocket costs to many families would soar.

Many insurers have required that adults with hepatitis C be very sick before they can get access to expensive drug treatment. But Medicaid has special rules that may get kids and teens access sooner.

Under the Affordable Care Act, most members of Congress and staff who want to buy health insurance must buy it on the exchange. That requirement is not affected by bills aimed at replacing the ACA.