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Michal Horný

@michalhorny.bsky.social
931 followers 752 following 135 posts

Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at @umassamherst.bsky.social * Health care affordability * Private insurance * Patient cost-sharing * Price transparency * Medical billing * (personal account)

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Reposted by Michal Horný
aaronecarroll.bsky.social @aaronecarroll.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
New Pain Points video: what aren’t insurers telling you? Missing fees, surprise prior auths, fragmented bills. I break it down and provide simple steps to avoid shocking bills. Watch now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4r...
youtube.com
Why Are Healthcare Costs So Confusing?
Have you ever opened a medical bill and nearly choked in surprise at the number on the “due now” box, and wondered why the hell it wasn’t covered by your insurance? A lot of that confusion isn’t…
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Emily Dore @emilydore.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Our new article shows that states increased participation in WIC by offering benefits remotely. Given WIC's health benefits but low participation rates, this is one way states might improve maternal and child health. www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/... @ritahamad.bsky.social @pamherd.bsky.social
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AEA Journals @aeajournals.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
When firms aren’t allowed to hire low-skill foreign workers, they don’t hire more Americans. They produce less, invest less, and shrink, with the sharpest effects in rural areas, say researchers at @jhu.edu and @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social. #econsky www.aeaweb.org/research/imm...
aeaweb.org
Winning the visa lottery
Evidence from a US government lottery shows that restricting foreign low-skill workers shrinks businesses without creating jobs for Americans.
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
In my early career as a health economist, I struggled a lot with clinician researchers who just *loved* Mr. Winsor's methods... Me: "No, we can't just trim patients with total costs over $1m." Them: "Why not?" Me: "Because I'm pretty sure accounts receivable doesn't stop expecting payment."
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Even relatively modest out-of-pocket costs can be unaffordable when they are concentrated in time. #ASHEcon2026 Photo credit: Paul Shafer
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Outsourcing revenue cycle management to private-equity-backed companies is associated with upcoding (increased proportion of higher-complexity DRGs). -Cal Feng of the University of Chicago #ARM26
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
“Don’t put medical debt on a credit card. Once you do, it’s no longer medical debt—it’s consumer debt, which has different regulations, different (much harsher) sets of rules.” -Eva Stahl of @unduemeddebt.bsky.social #ARM26
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
“Some patients have no medical debt. Or any other debt. $0. … because they sold their house.” -Rebekah Angove on why measuring #medicaldebt is hard. #ARM26
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Do you have a comorbidity and would like to look up a price of a health care service? Or would you like to know what to expect financially if complications occur? Well, too bad. Those prices are harder to find. Janet Akinde presents our research at #ARM26 @umassamherst.bsky.social
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Come see me at poster session A (today at 8:00-9:15 am), poster board A-154 #ARM26
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Donovan Maust @dtmaust.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
A colleague had meeting with an NIH PO last week telling them exactly this. (Second person I’ve heard this from.) Astonishing.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
So proud of my amazing students, presenting research posters at SPHHS Research Day! Janet Akinde shows that prices for services provided to patients with comorbidities or who experience complications are harder to find. This implies disparities in the benefits of price transparency.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
My god. Not even the first part is right. (If a drug was $100 and its price increased to $600, that would be a 500% increase.)
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Kakistocracy
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
"Subpoenas could show how AI is being applied [in medical billing] or lead to a deescalation where the standard of care is to over-bill and under-reimburse" said @alexhoagland.bsky.social news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-l...
news.bloomberglaw.com
Bankrupt Hospitals Sue Insurers in Hunt for Creditor Recoveries
A wave of hospital bankruptcies has brought in its wake high-stakes lawsuits aiming to boost creditor payouts by targeting health insurers over allegedly systemic claim denials.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
"A patient does not shop for CPT 27447. They shop for a successful knee replacement. Listing the price of a single code is useless if the patient does not know they also need a specialist consultation, anesthesia, and facility fees." academyhealth.org/blog/2026-03...
academyhealth.org
The Illusion of Choice: Why Data Transparency Alone Is Not Enough to Empower Health Care Consumers | AcademyHealth
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Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Brutal.
A WHOLE CIVILIZATION
WILL DIE TONIGHT
My son needs lunch, and I have to put his backpack together, but a whole civilization will die tonight, so I'm wondering if they've closed their schools.
Like, a snow day, maybe, except instead of snow it's
"keep your children home so if you die, you die together" — instead of "well open back up once the plows have cleared" it's
"we don't know if we'll be here tomorrow, hold your babies tight."
It's just "talk" I'm told, which I've been told before.
"It's how the president makes his deals." But I've never heard anyone talk about other human beings this way, and I'm not certain I can look my son in the eyes if we all agree to stomach it one more time.
A civilization will die tonight, but as I zip up his backpack and kiss him off to school I think: if this is what we call leadership then I'm not entirely sure ours isn't already dead.
@michaelfdubois
Mukad A QuBoy
@michacifdubois
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
“Shocking” that a mean is higher than a median for a right skewed distribution. (for the record, I don’t dispute the point the chart is hoping to make)
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
A new explainer in @theconversation.com of the most common (and yet confusing) health insurance jargon that US consumers must regularly navigate: theconversation.com/health-insur... With a great addition of a health insurance quiz by @kff.org 😍
theconversation.com
Health insurance jargon can be frustrating and confusing – here’s how to navigate it
The US health insurance system requires that people make strategic and often risky decisions about how much health insurance they can afford and how much coverage they might need.
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
🚨🚨🚨 NEW PAPER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨 In this @journalgim.bsky.social brief report, @alexhoagland.bsky.social, our clinical co-authors, and I lay out ancillary services to screening mammography and colonoscopy, for which patients receive medical bills. link.springer.com/article/10.1... cc: @acscan.bsky.social
link.springer.com
Ancillary Services to Screening Mammography and Colonoscopy Burdened by Patient Cost-Sharing - Journal of General Internal Medicine
Journal of General Internal Medicine -
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
🚨🚨🚨 NEW PAPER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨 In this @journalgim.bsky.social brief report, @alexhoagland.bsky.social, our clinical co-authors, and I lay out ancillary services to screening mammography and colonoscopy, for which patients receive medical bills. link.springer.com/article/10.1... cc: @acscan.bsky.social
link.springer.com
Ancillary Services to Screening Mammography and Colonoscopy Burdened by Patient Cost-Sharing - Journal of General Internal Medicine
Journal of General Internal Medicine -
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Emily Dore @emilydore.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I’m so excited to announce that I’m joining the Tufts School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine this summer! It’s a dream come true to join an interdisciplinary department that does important policy-relevant work around health disparities.
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Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Latest paper @jamapediatrics.com led by SPHERE postdoc @emilydore.bsky.social finds longstanding disparities in infant health by poverty status using national data, e.g., for preterm birth and low birthweight. www.doi.org/10.1001/jama... @ameracadpeds.bsky.social @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social 1/
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Increasing patient cost-sharing to address rising health care costs is a lazy solution. gazettenet.com/2026/02/11/w...
gazettenet.com
‘We can’t afford more’: Public workers push back on health insurance changes - Daily Hampshire Gazette
AMHERST — Nearly one in three Americans carries medical debt, a figure that public employees in Massachusetts worry could increase if Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal to cut the state’s Group Insurance Co...
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
🚨🚨🚨 @alexhoagland.bsky.social and I wrote an overview on health insurance claim denials, what they mean for patients and health care providers, and what data researchers can use to study them. www.ashecon.org/newsletter/h...
ashecon.org
Health Insurance Claim Denials – ASHEcon
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Adrianna McIntyre @adrianna.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
“We measure the impact of increased immigration on mortality among elderly Americans, who rely on the immigrant-intensive [health care] sectors… [we find] striking effects on mortality: a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide.”
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
He was so close to saying "your body, your choice," but caught himself in the last split second.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
It sounds appealing at first, but it means paying $2,400 for primary care and still having no insurance in case one needs expensive medication or gets in a car accident. Insurance, especially in the US, has many problems, but doctors not accepting it is not a solution. www.kitv.com/news/honolul...
kitv.com
Honolulu doctors cut out middle man, no longer taking health insurance
Rising health care costs are pushing some doctors to rethink the way they do business. A father-daughter medical practice in Honolulu is now cutting out the middle man. Instead of
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.” That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Václav Havel’s moral philosophy (of the Power of the Powerless) is still timely and relevant even after nearly 50 years…
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
A good guy with… bare hands.
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Laura Burkhardt @lauraannstl.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
This is college in the United States. Video from inside a Brown University building shows the moment that police found a group of students who were sheltering after the shooting on campus. This isn't freedom.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
So thrilled!! @mirandayaver.bsky.social
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Ezra Golberstein @egolberstein.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
MEPS seems to be gone as of now. This is very bad. These are critical pieces of data about health care and they belong to the American public.
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Reposted by Michal Horný
Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Latest study by SPHERE postdocs A. Ali & @emilydore.bsky.social finds that expansions of EITC for young adults w/out kids boosted mental heath. This group is often excluded from safety net policies, but they are at a critical juncture of life course. doi.org/10.1111/1468... @mdrc-news.bsky.social 1/
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Coleman Drake @colemandrake.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Do you have a paper on health insurance policy in the Marketplace, MA, or group markets that you would like to present @ashecon.bsky.social in a panel with @dmaanderson.bsky.social @paulshafer.bsky.social sky.social and me? If so, please shoot me an email or DM!
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Health care: the only product that you can buy while unconscious.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
I wouldn't mind if this is how we get a single-payer health care system...
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Tired: “Financial toxicity” Wired: “Financial hardship” (based on research) #PIC25
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
“More patients worry about medical bills than about dying.” #PIC25
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
“Why is crowdsourcing the [health care] payment model?” #PIC25
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
“When insurance was expanded [ACA], we saw fewer people with perforated appendix, because they came to get care sooner.” #PIC25
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Annual premium of $26,211.60, plus $8,000 deductible, plus co-insurance (most likely 20%). That is brutal!
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Ruth Ben-Ghiat @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Important: this is exactly how propagandists operate.
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Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Postdoc @emilydore.bsky.social @hsph.harvard.edu provided an interview to @healthyfutures.bsky.social discussing the findings of this study, highlighting the importance of social policy design for improving #healthequity. www.healthyfutures.blog/p/how-social... @rwjf.org @policies4action.bsky.social
healthyfutures.blog
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Contrary to what Trump is saying, there is a “down side” to separating MMR into three separate vaccines. That’s three unnecessary office visits and three unnecessary copays. This type of policy puts up more barriers to vaccination.
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Michal Horný @michalhorny.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
I’m so sad to hear this! Allan was such a wonderful colleague and mentor, and I am glad I had the honor to work with him. Rest in peace, Allan!
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