Latest KFF Health News Stories
Research Roundup: Medicare Part D In 2014; Barriers To Mental Health Care
This week’s studies come from The Kaiser Family Foundation, Georgetown University, Health Affairs and news outlets.
California Working Overtime To Enroll Consumers On Marketplace — And To Train People To Help
Once consumers are primed to enroll, the hand-off to counselors has been rocky. Many counselors are still attending training or are awaiting background checks and state-issued licenses; some just need a computer log-in.
First Edition: October 11, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about what experts are diagnosing as the trouble spots in the federal online health insurance exchange and how to fix them.
A Reader Asks: My Coverage Is Intermittent. Can I Do Better On The Marketplace?
A contract worker looks for more consistent coverage.
Mississippi Consumers Try And Try Again To Use Healthcare.gov
In Mississippi, one of 36 states dependent on the federally run health insurance marketplace, consumers continue to face long delays and other technical difficulties.
Looking For D.C.’s Best Hospitals? Here’s A Little Advice
A cottage industry of nonprofits and companies offer grades and rankings of hospitals. But they often measure different things.
Some Good News About Saving For Retirement Health Costs
Saving for health care after retirement is less costly than it was just a few years ago thanks to the slowed growth of health care spending. But that’s just part of the picture. A new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that Medicare beneficiaries, who are 65 years or older, would need to […]
Obama Meets With Congressional Delegations As GOP Mulls Change In Tactics To End Budget Crisis
The president is having separate meetings with Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate as both sides seek a solution to the impasse. Some Republicans are looking at a plan on entitlement changes from Rep. Paul Ryan as a roadmap, but others complain that he is abandoning the fight over the health law.
Rubio Backs Cruz On Shutdown, McCain Calls Fight ‘Fool’s Errand’
While news outlets identify fissures among Republicans in the fight tying government funding to derailing the health care law, the billionaire Koch brothers deny playing any role.
Health Exchange Issues? There Are Many, Say Experts And Consumers
The reviews may not be good, but people are visiting the new health care web sites, according to the new AP-GfK poll. In addition, experts offer possible reasons for the problems that continue to plague the federal health insurance web site. Meanwhile, various news outlets examine how certain states are faring with the federal and state exchanges.
Hawaiians Still Unable To Shop On State Exchange
Hawaii, President Barack Obama’s birthplace, has the only online health insurance marketplace that has not yet launched. Ten days after the Hawaii Health Connector was supposed to allow consumers and small employers to shop and enroll for coverage, officials are using paper applications and referring people to insurers’ websites to check prices. About 100,000 people are uninsured in Hawaii. It is […]
Employees At Big Companies Will Pick Up A Bigger Share Of Health Care Price Tag, Predicts Aon Hewitt
The Associated Press reports on this new forecast from benefits consultant Aon Hewitt.
Medical Device Tax Gets Attention In Budget Fight
Opponents of the tax, which helps fund the health law, have proposed killing it to help defuse the current standoff, but there is not yet consensus on that effort.
State Highlights: Audit Questions Facts In N.C. Medicaid Managed Care
A selection of health policy stories from California, North Carolina and Oregon.
Longer Looks: More TV Characters With Mental Illness
This week’s articles come from Time, Gawker, The New York Times, the Atlantic, Dr. Kevin Campbell and WeNews.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
Lawmakers Grill IRS Chief On Obamacare Rollout
Media outlets report that a House panel questioned Sarah Hall Ingram, the Internal Revenue Service official running the agency’s Obamacare office, who testified the health law rollout is going smoothly. Another House panel heard conflicting views of the law’s impact on businesses.
Deadline For Getting Coverage And Avoiding Fines — Valentine’s Day, Not March 31
The Associated Press reports on this development — which it called a “new wrinkle” — that will move up by about six weeks the date by which consumers will need to have health insurance or face penalties. Also in the news, lots of talk — some of which came from President Barack Obama himself — about how the health law helps or hurts workers and how it impacts health care costs.
Indiana Sues To Halt Health Law’s Employer Mandate
The state attorney general and 15 school districts filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, claiming that tax penalties for businesses with 50 or more full-time employees that fail to provide health benefits cannot be enforced against state or local governments. That mandate has been delayed until 2015.
First Edition: October 10, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a new Associated Press poll that offers the public’s early reviews of the first days of the health law’s online insurance marketplaces.