The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "medical insurance" ...
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Deception of the Desperate
The WSMV investigation "exposed how a Nashville-based company was deceiving people all across the country who were desperate for insurance. Many of these customers had serious illnesses, like AIDS and cancer, and could not get full coverage insurance. They found the company was telling consumers they were getting full coverage insurance, when in fact they were buying basic discount cards that barely paid any of their expenses. "
Tags: insurance; fraud; consumer safety; medical insurance; health insurance
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60 Billion Dollar Fraud
“Medicare Fraud, a crime that steals an estimated $60 billion a year from the American taxpayer”. Medicare stated they were made efforts to crack down on the fraud, but this investigation proved otherwise. This investigation revealed how easy Medicare fraud is and that zero experience can still result in thousands of dollars from Medicare.
Tags: health care; medical; medicine; officials; federal government; Congress; system; insurance; plan; doctors; hospitals; benefits
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Medicare Fraud: The New Cocaine Cowboys
Medicare Fraud has become one of the largest organized crimes in America. The investigation revealed that it costs “US taxpayers $60 billion in fraudulent Medicare benefits filed every year”. As a result of the first story, many groups moved in to initiate new laws, which would regulate Medicare and who gets the money.
Tags: 60 Minutes; Department of Health and Human Services; congressional; health care; medical; medicine; schemes; insurance; clinics; system
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Failure to Inform
“Doctors at dialysis clinics have failed to inform thousands of patients about kidney transplantation, an oversight that could shorten their lives and cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year”. Many patients start dialysis without hearing the benefits of a kidney transplant. The benefits being about 10 years put on your life and saving the federal Medicare program “thousands of dollars a patient”. This series uncovered money plays a large role when prescribing patients on dialysis rather than getting a transplant.
Tags: medicine; health care; medical; costs; kidney disease; taxpayers; debilitating; insurance; treatments
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Insurance Denied
"The article explores how health insurance companies deny coverage- or, in some cases, refuse to pay claims after initially approving coverage- for people believed to have pre-existing medical conditions."
Tags: medical issues; loan; coverage;
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America's Broken Healthcare System
This series sheds light on the hidden practices that boost pateints' medical bills and can impede their ability to obtain treatment or insurance.
Tags: 401(k); prescription drugs; medical bill; heath insurance; medicine cabinet
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The Evidence Gap
The nations' medical bill last year exceeded $2.7 trillin -- nearly as much as the projected total cost of the Iraq war. If it were medical money well spend, there might be few cries to "reform" the American health care system. But by some estimates, one-third or more of the medical care received by patients in this country may be virtually worthless. The nation is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars each year on superfluous treatments -- money that otherwise could by spent, for example , on providing health insurance for every child, woman and man int his country who currently have no coverage. A team of science and business reporters from The New York Times set out to explain how and why the United States is spending so much on health care with so relatively little to show for the money, They discovered a gaping chasm between scientific evidence and the practice of medicine. In an in-depth series of articles, told through real doctors and patients, and based on information they dug up that was frequently unflattering to medical providers, companies and regulators, the Times team documented many disturbing instances of "The Evidence Gap."
Tags: health care; CT angiograms; Avastin; cancer treatment; reckless spending; Food and Drug Administration; mammograms
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"Prescription for Profits"
The Wall Street Journal examined whether nonprofit hospitals, which account for the majority of hospitals in the U.S., deserve the billions of dollars in annual tax exemptions they receive. The Journal's series revealed that, far from struggling financially, many nonprofit hospitals have become profit machines while shirking their charitable missions. Among the series' findings: Some pay tens of thousands of dollars upfront' others have closed facilities in poor inner cities and built new ones in affluent suburbs; and one hospital put patients' lives at risk to increase its lucrative liver-transplant business.
Tags: charitable causes; medical service; patient care; hospital taxes; nonprofit hospitals; Amish; Mennonites
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America's Health Care Crisis
"America's health-care system is in a crisis with many people worried that medical costs will bankrupt them, a Consumer Reports series found...The series found that consumers who had to buy insurance on their own had higher costs and more limited coverage, according to our nationally representative survey. Often they found they could not get coverage at all, unless it excluded the very illness for which they needed treatment."
Tags: Philip Meyer Contest; health care; health care cost; insurance; medicine; illness; survey;
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Sick
"'Sick' tells the story of eight individuals from around the country to examine what happens when people struggle to pay for their medical care. Along the way, it also tells the story of health insurance in America- how it evolved, how it operates today, and what's likely to happen to it in the future."
Tags: health care; medicaid; hospital; emergency room;