Author

Julie Appleby

Julie Appleby

Julie Appleby is a senior correspondent for KFF Health News. She reports on health law implementation, health care treatments and costs, trends in health insurance and policies affecting hospitals and other medical providers. Before joining Kaiser Health News, Julie spent 10 years covering the health industry and policy at USA Today. She also worked at the San Francisco Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, California. She helped launch the Association of Health Care Journalists’ Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism contest in 2004 and oversaw it for more than a decade while serving on the association’s board. She holds a master’s degree in public health.

An elderly woman in a retirement home.

Here’s what’s new for Medicare beneficiaries during open enrollment

By: - October 18, 2023

Consumers know it’s fall when stores start offering Halloween candy and flu shots — and airwaves and mailboxes are filled with advertisements for Medicare options. It’s annual open enrollment time again for the 65 million Americans covered by Medicare, the federal health program for older people and some people with disabilities. From Oct. 15 to […]

Proposed rule would make hospital prices even more transparent

By: - October 5, 2023

“How much is the ice cream?” A simple enough question, featured on a new TV and online advertisement, posed by a man who just wants something cold. A woman behind the counter responds with a smile: “Prices? No, we don’t have those anymore. We have estimates.” The satirical ad pretends to be a news report […]

Timing, cost of new vaccines vary by virus and health insurance

By: - September 10, 2023

As summer edges toward fall, thoughts turn to, well, vaccines. Yes, inevitably, it’s time to think about the usual suspects — influenza and covid-19 shots — but also the new kid in town: recently approved vaccines for RSV, short for respiratory syncytial virus. But who should get the various vaccines, and when? “For the eligible […]

syringe used for shot

Here’s what you need to know about the threat to no-cost preventive services

By: - April 13, 2023

When a federal judge in Texas declared unconstitutional a popular part of the Affordable Care Act that ensures no-cost preventive care for certain services, such as screening exams for conditions such as diabetes, hepatitis, and certain cancers, it left a lot of people with a lot of questions. On the face of it, the March […]