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1 week ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerWhen Christy Owca’s 17-year-old son flipped his Jeep in a crash in 2019, she was grateful that an ambulance got him to the hospital quickly and that his injuries turned out to be minor. So when the first bill from Gaston County’s ambulance agency came, she didn’t think twice about paying the $61 fee. But more bills kept coming. Then came statements from her health insurance company, each showing a different amount she owed just for the ambulance ride.
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1 week ago | 
buff.ly | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerWhen Christy Owca’s 17-year-old son flipped his Jeep in a crash in 2019, she was grateful that an ambulance got him to the hospital quickly and that his injuries turned out to be minor. So when the first bill from Gaston County’s ambulance agency came, she didn’t think twice about paying the $61 fee. But more bills kept coming. Then came statements from her health insurance company, each showing a different amount she owed just for the ambulance ride.
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2 weeks ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerAfter Cathy Head of Charlotte fell and fractured her shoulder in 2023, she was pleased that her health insurance covered almost all of the expenses for her care: the emergency room visit, the physician’s charges and months of physical therapy. Then she got the ambulance bill. For a 4.5-mile ride to Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, Head was charged $1,397. Of that, Head’s insurance paid just $130, she said.
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2 weeks ago | 
buff.ly | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerAfter Cathy Head of Charlotte fell and fractured her shoulder in 2023, she was pleased that her health insurance covered almost all of the expenses for her care: the emergency room visit, the physician’s charges and months of physical therapy. Then she got the ambulance bill. For a 4.5-mile ride to Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, Head was charged $1,397. Of that, Head’s insurance paid just $130, she said.
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1 month ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerThe total compensation of Atrium Health’s top executives soared by an average of 41 percent last year, according to newly released data from the hospital system, but information about the salary of Eugene Woods, CEO of Atrium parent Advocate Health, was not included in the release.
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1 month ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
If you’ve ever been hit with a slew of confusing bills after a hospital stay, had a long wait for an insurance approval or struggled to pay an unexpectedly high medical bill, you know how frustrating health care in North Carolina can be.
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2 months ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerWhen 6-year-old Mackenzie Conlon was hospitalized with the flu at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in February, all she wanted was to go home, her mother, Stephanie Conlon, said. Mackenzie, who has complex medical needs due to cerebral palsy, had been fighting high fevers, dehydration and pain so intense her constant crying left her nearly voiceless. Conlon, 46, said she would watch helplessly when her daughter pointed at the hospital door in a plea to leave.
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2 months ago | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
If you work for a large company, you probably have a 401(k) or a similar program that allows you to automatically deduct money from your paycheck to save for retirement. You may even get a match from your employer. But about half of North Carolina’s private sector employees – more than 1.8 million people – don’t have a way to save for retirement through their jobs, according to an AARP analysis.
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2 months ago | 
wfae.org | Tony Mecia |Charlotte Ledger
The opening of new lanes on a 17-mile section of I-485 in southern Mecklenburg has been delayed yet again, with the N.C. Department of Transportation saying it now expects them to open by “late 2025” or “winter 2025.”The department had said last year that it anticipated opening the lanes by “late summer” 2025, so the new timeline represents a delay of at least several months. The project has been under construction since 2019. The original forecast called for it to be completed by 2022.
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Mar 25, 2025 | 
northcarolinahealthnews.org | Michelle Crouch |Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte LedgerA lawsuit filed earlier this month seeks to stop Atrium Health from taking control of organ donation services at partner hospital Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. For 40 years, Wake Forest Baptist relied on HonorBridge, an independent organ procurement organization that serves 75 percent of North Carolina, to handle the hospital’s life-saving organ donations and get them to transplant recipients.
