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Across the U.S., community groups, hospitals and government agencies are stepping up to support the estimated 42 million stressed and strained family caregivers, who are often untrained and unpaid.

This week, NPR profiled a Montana man who was billed nearly half a million dollars for 14 weeks of dialysis, after being caught in a dispute between insurer and the dialysis provider. Now he owes $0.

Under federal law, people sexually assaulted don't have to pay for their medical forensic exams. Yet some have trouble getting the hospitals or collection agencies to stop dunning them for payment.

The ACA is again being put to the test, after a lower court judge ruled the massive health law unconstitutional. The case might yet ricochet back to the Supreme Court ahead of the 2020 election.

People who lose their job-based health plan usually get 60 days to decide to continue it — and pay more — under federal rules. But a recent pandemic-related rule change allows more decision time.

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.

Carmen Quintero couldn't get a coronavirus test but ended up with a huge bill for trying to. She also was told to self-isolate and had no choice but to use vacation time to stay home from work.

The new guidance amounts to a midyear open-enrollment period and applies to firms that buy health insurance to cover their workers as well as to those that self-insure — paying claims on their own.

At least 711 nursing homes reported running out of N95 masks at the end of May, and 1,963 said they had less than a week's worth. "The federal government has got to step up," says one advocate.

Off-duty nurses, security guards, ambulance workers and others have joined protests against racism and police brutality to work as medics. "When we see suffering, that's where we go," says one.

Even as social restrictions ease in some spots, older adults remain extra-vulnerable to COVID-19. That means many families are facing hard choices — whether to hunker down together or apart.

Coroners and medical examiners are starting to test for COVID-19 among those who die unexpectedly, including people who die at home. The process could help communities contain their outbreaks.

Congress authorized $100 billion to reimburse health care providers for losses linked to the pandemic, but much of that money has gone for Medicare patients, with low-income families left behind.

Experts fear that the economic pressures of the COVID-19 crisis are helping push some urban hospitals over the edge at the very time they are most needed in low-income communities.

As more and more people filter back to the workplace, many face a tiny space that can create a large logjam: the elevator. Even the lobby is fraught with coronavirus questions. We have answers.

Over 9 million Americans have lost both their job and health coverage. To help them, COBRA is an option, but it could cost buyers more than if subsidies were increased for Affordable Care Act plans.

Access to testing is still uneven in the nation's largest state. Even as some urban counties offer tests to anyone who wants one, a rural county is testing raw sewage to track the virus.

As many firms and academic researchers vie for blood donations from survivors in hopes of isolating components for new treatments, one project is turning for help from 10,000 Orthodox Jewish women.

Guidance regarding the CARES Act says health care providers who take emergency funds aren't allowed to "balance bill" coronavirus patients ― and every patient is a possible COVID-19 patient.

As part of their social distancing policies, elected leaders suggested phone and video medical appointments would be covered by health insurance. So why are some patients paying $70 per virtual visit?

The coronavirus is shaping a generation of incoming doctors, as their residency training inside U.S. hospitals brings them face to face with a mystifying disease and frequent death.

Cities continue to dismantle homeless encampments despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hold off during the pandemic to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

While most people who die from COVID-19 are over 65, health care workers who die are often younger. Here are stories of some who died in their 20s, leaving shattered dreams and devastated families.

As COVID-19 forced many addiction treatment clinics to scale back, Colorado brought its clinics on wheels to remote, underserved towns and used telehealth to connect patients with addiction doctors.

Nurses say COVID-19 patients have sometimes been housed in the same units as uninfected patients. While officials have penalized nursing homes for such failures, hospitals have seen less scrutiny.