Latest KFF Health News Stories
First Edition: September 3, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about interest in and action surrounding state health exchange call centers.
Complex Personal Issues May Cloud Decisions About Buying Insurance
Even the people trained to help consumers navigate the new online marketplaces may not have all the answers.
FAQ: How Will The Individual Mandate Work?
The controversial health law provision that requires most individuals to get insurance is still not well understood.
GOP Lawmakers Demand Information From Groups Getting Navigator Grants
In a letter that the administration described as a “blatant and shameful attempt to intimidate,” the Republican House members direct groups to provide a written description of the work they intend to do, the number of employees and volunteers, their duties and how much they’ll be paid.
Covered California Launches $80 Million Ad Campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP77OktlKGk Officials at Covered California — the Golden State’s health insurance marketplace — are placing a big bet on advertising to lure people to get health insurance. With a campaign boosted by $80 million from the federal government, they’ll tell people about the Affordable Care Act and encourage uninsured citizens to buy health insurance. Officials see the 15-month-long campaign — using […]
White House, GOP Senators Throw In The Towel On Budget Talks
Over the past weeks, the Republicans had moved away from the kind of “grand bargain” sought by the president, which would have combined higher tax revenues with cuts to programs like Medicare. Republicans said the talks had yielded “no common ground.”
White House Readies Major Health Law Push
The strategy will feature the president, as well as first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden, appearing in key states over the next six months to encourage people to enroll in new coverage options. Politico also looks at how former President Bill Clinton will be part of the effort to sell the American public on the overhaul.
IRS Ruling On Same-Sex Couples Has Implications For Health Law
Thursday’s announcement that the federal government will give the same tax treatment to legally married same-sex couples as they do to heterosexual couples may have ripple effects for the 2010 health care law. The decision from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service means that the income of legally married same-sex couples will be […]
Health Exchange Rate Shock Not So Likely, Study Finds
A study by Rand Corp. researchers concludes that predictions of sharp jumps in insurance premiums for coverage purchased through the new online insurance marketplaces may be overstated.
Health Law Subsidies Present Calculation Challenges
The Wall Street Journal reports on the challenges of calculating future income and health insurance subsidies — both of which will have an impact on the health law’s new insurance marketplaces. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports on how executive-branch and legislative-branch employees will have different experiences with the overhaul.
Calif. Releases Ads For Insurance Marketplace; Aetna Leaves N.Y. Exchange
Many of the California advertisements will be in Spanish to persuade consumers unfamiliar with the law to sign up, the Los Angeles Times reports. Meanwhile, Aetna did not give many details about its decision to not compete in New York’s exchange.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
State Insurance Exchanges: Separating Fact From Fiction
Georgia Health News asks a state insurance expert to analyze premiums in the new online marketplace — they dispute predictions of exploding premiums by Georgia’s insurance commissioner. Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Star Tribune talks to people in that state’s high risk insurance pool who could not buy policies in the past because of serious illnesses but who will be able to do so beginning Oct. 1.
Those In Gay Marriages Set To Receive New Federal Benefits
The federal government on Thursday issued rules on the federal benefits that gay Americans and their same-sex spouses can expect to receive. HHS said Medicare will allow all beneficiaries access to care in a nursing home where their spouse lives. A ruling from Treasury and the IRS also has implications for the health law, combining gay spouses’ incomes in determining eligibility for the Medicaid expansion and subsidies to buy coverage in online marketplaces.
Research Roundup: Assessing New Hospital Observation Rule
This week’s studies come from JAMA Internal Medicine, Science, JAMA Pediatrics, The Kaiser Family Foundation, JAMA and news outlets.
State Highlights: Texas Bans Youth From Tanning Salons
A selection of health policy stories from Texas, Florida, South Dakota, Washington and California.
First Edition: August 30, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the latest on congressional efforts to avert a financial crisis as well as coverage of the news from the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services about how same-sex marriage will be recognized.
Some Hospitals Turn To Post-Discharge Clinics To Help Hold Down Readmissions
A study finds that a third of adult patients discharged from a hospital don’t see a physician within 30 days — and experts say this is a key reason so many of them need to come back in.
A Reader Asks: I Get Coverage Through My Estranged Husband. Can I Choose To Go To The Marketplace?
Consumer columnist offers caution about the financial implications of that switch.
Florida Is No. 2 In Nation For Rate Of Uninsured
Census data show that about 25 percent of state residents lack health coverage in a state that has opted against the health law’s expansion of Medicaid, the government health program for the poor and disabled.