Latest KFF Health News Stories
A Central Health Law Question: Who Is Getting Covered? Who Is Getting Canceled?
The Associated Press reports that some of the newly insured will now become the faces of healthcare.gov, while The New York Times tells three stories about people who won’t be able to keep their coverage.
Ads Seek To Refocus Obamacare Debate; Dems Point To GOP’s ‘Sabotage’ Campaign
Health law opponents are using President Barack Obama’s promise that Americans could keep their health plan if they like it against him in a series of new ads. Meanwhile, Politico examines the effect of the long-running Republican effort to derail the law.
Lawmakers Don’t Have To Say Which Staffers Have To Use Health Exchange
Members of Congress can choose who — if any — among their staffs go on the health law’s insurance exchange.Sen. David Vitter, R-La., objects to the fact that they don’t have to announce those decisions.
Health Law Policy Issues: Abortion And Maternity Coverage Raising GOP Concerns
News organizations look at a variety of policy issues that affect the health law.
A selection of health policy stories from California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
New IRS Rule Gives Consumers A Break On FSA Accounts
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service will allow Flexible Spending Account holders to carry over as much as $500 from one year to the next without a penalty.
Details Emerge About Key Fixers In ‘Tech Surge’ To Address Website Issues
News outlets report that the administration’s so-called “tech surge” has been somewhat mysterious, but it’s becoming clear that the administration has enlisted engineers from a number of major companies.
As Healthcare.gov Falters, Navigators And Marketing Efforts Forced To The Sidelines
Navigators, who had planned to be working hard on online enrollments by now, are forced to try paper insurance applications or trying to answer consumers’ questions about why they can’t enroll. At the same time, a marketing blitz planned by health law advocates is on hold.
Some States See Enrollment Success Even As Others, Federal Insurance Exchange Struggle
Even as the federal and some state-based insurance marketplaces falter, enrollment numbers in some state-based exchanges are exceeding expectations — including nearly 49,000 in Washington state alone. But some places, like Oregon, are dealing with technical problems that are forcing officials there to hand-process applications.
Democrats Feeling Health Law Anxiety Over Troubled Start
Democrats are worried the health law’s problems could hurt them politically as Senate Democrats push Obama administration officials to ease their anxiety and fix implementation of the law.
Most Uninsured Signing Up On Health Website Are Going To Medicaid
The Washington Post reports that nine out of 10 new enrollees are in Medicaid. Meanwhile, White House documents turned over to investigators in the House show only six people enrolled on the day the troubled website launched.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Texas Abortion Law
A federal appeals court gave the OK for Texas to reinstate a controversial abortion law while its legal fate is being decided and reversed a decision issued earlier this week blocking the law, which now goes back into effect immediately. It requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and limits medication-induced abortions.
Research Roundup: States Struggling With Medicaid Expansion “Complex Issues”
This week’s health policy research and briefs come from the Annals of Emergency Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, the National Association of Medicaid Directors, British Medical Journal and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Healthcare.gov Troubles Don’t Change Public’s View Of Health Law, Poll Finds
The public has a dim view of how the government has rolled out the health care law so far, but those stumbles have not changed people’s overall opinions of the law itself, a new poll finds. The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 48 percent of people think the federal government has done a poor […]
First Edition: November 1, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including information from the inside about what happened on day one of the health law’s online insurance marketplace roll out, as well as details about how nervous some Democrats are getting about how the overhaul is shaping up.
IHS services don’t meet the requirements of the law, but many Native Americans and Alaska natives are exempted from the individual mandate.
As Robot-Assisted Surgery Expands, Are Patients And Providers Getting Enough Information?
A study finds missing and inadequately reported information about adverse events.
Why State Exchange Sites Worked While The Federal Site Faltered
What accounts for the different experiences of the state and federally managed exchanges? Why are the exchanges that the federal government runs so bug-ridden, subjecting users to long delays and possibly even more serious problems?
Florida Insurer Says It Didn’t Drop Customers, Just Insurance Plans
After 300,000 Floridians receive notices that their plans will expire, Florida Blue, the state’s largest insurance company, assures customers they will be eligible for new, ACA compliant plans.