Latest KFF Health News Content

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Appeals Court Judges Seem Disinclined To Let Insurers Recoup Loses From Cut To Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments

Morning Briefing

The federal government is arguing that insurers received increased subsidies when they raised premiums, which more than compensated their losses. Judges in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims have so far sided with insurers and ruled that their strategies to mitigate losses from CSR payments do not affect their eligibility for repayment. Meanwhile, states report their health law enrollment numbers.

Advocates Quickly Counter Trump’s Brag That He Was Responsible For Sizable Drop In Cancer Death Rates

Morning Briefing

After President Donald Trump seemed to take credit for the dropping rates, advocates and political rivals fired back. “The largest drop in overall cancer mortality ever recorded from 2016 to 2017, reflects prevention, early detection, and treatment advances that occurred in prior years,” said Gary M. Reedy, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society.

Some Disability Advocates Delighted With Warren’s Outreach Efforts And The Scope Of Her Plan

Morning Briefing

“Candidates are actually listening to disabled people,” said Rebecca Cokley, director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. “This is how policy should be made. It matters who’s at the table.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s plan is sprawling, touching on education, employment, Social Security, technology, housing, incarceration, and more, in addition to focusing on health care.

High-Deductible Plans Jeopardize Financial Health Of Patients And Rural Hospitals

KFF Health News Original

Small hospitals and patients in rural areas have been hit hard by the boom in high-deductible health plans. Often when a patient arrives at a rural hospital needing critical care, the person is stabilized and transferred to a larger facility. But bills from the first site of care generally get applied to the patient’s deductible. When patients can’t afford their deductible, the smaller hospital winds up eating the costs.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Democrats Roll Dice On SCOTUS And The ACA

KFF Health News Original

A group of Democratic state attorneys general are betting the Supreme Court will take up the case and overturn a federal appeals court ruling in time for the 2020 elections. In other high-court news, most Republicans in Congress are asking the justices to use a Louisiana law to overturn the landmark abortion-rights ruling, Roe v. Wade. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Rovner also interviews NPR’s Richard Harris, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature.

Raising Minimum Wage By As Little As One Dollar Might Have Prevented 27,000 Suicides, Researchers Say

Morning Briefing

As part of a growing interest in the link between mental health and the minimum wage, the new study finds that the wage hikes lower the suicide rates more when it is harder to find a job like in 2009. Public health news is on a new CDC flu forecast and a new outbreak, chronic fatigue syndrome, individualized medicine, more recalls of Zantac, 5 risk factors for longevity, rising numbers of electric scooter injuries, as well.

Biggest Ever One-Year Drop In Cancer Death Rates Attributed To Strides Made In Lung Tumor Treatments

Morning Briefing

Even patients with late-stage cancers are surviving for several years — rather than months — after treatment starts. The overall cancer death rate fell by nearly 30% from 1991 through 2017. The study wasn’t all positive: declines in the death rates from prostate, breast and colon cancer are slowing, despite those cancers being easy to scan for.