Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Survey: Americans Have Low Health Insurance Literacy
Premium, deductible, copay, all basic health insurance terms many Americans don’t understand, according to a recent poll. More than half could not correctly define at least one of these common financial terms related to health insurance, according to poll results released by the American Institute of CPAs. Ernie Almonte, chair of the AICPA’s National CPA […]
HHS Will Allow ‘Unbanked’ People To Use Prepaid Debit Cards On Exchanges
At the urging of advocates for low-income consumers, the Obama administration said Wednesday that it is moving ahead with a rule requiring health plans accommodate households that do not have traditional bank accounts. One in four of the uninsured eligible for federal insurance subsidies does not have a bank account, according to a report released […]
In what the department described as its “first guidance” in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, HHS said that all Medicare Advantage enrollees, including same-sex couples, will have equal access to coverage in a nursing home. The Internal Revenue Service made a similar announcement today regarding tax filing by same-sex couples.
Group Health Omits Abortion Coverage In Plans Sold On Washington Exchange
The Seattle-based insurer and health provider won’t cover abortions in plans it will sell in the new online marketplace but says women will be able to get the procedure without paying more.
As Deficit Talks Resume, Health Law Funding Fight Escalates
News outlets report little optimism that talks between a group of Republican senators and the White House will resolve the impasse. Meanwhile, House Republicans are expected to use the battle over raising the debt limit as leverage to block the health law — either by stripping away its funds, or delaying implementation.
Bill Clinton Enlisted To Promote Health Law
The former president will speak about the overhaul Sept. 4 at his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. Media outlets also explore the activities of two nongovernment groups reaching out to people who will be able to shop for insurance in new online marketplaces opening Oct. 1.
Longer Looks: Should Women Pay More Than Men For Insurance?
This week’s selections come from Slate, Salon, The Philadelphia Inquirer, American Medical News and Time.
AMA President Optimistic About A Fix For Medicare’s Doctor Payment Formula
Debated and despised, the Medicare physician payment formula may finally be on the way out — at least that’s what AMA President Ardis Hoven believes. Known as the “sustainable growth rate” or SGR, the formula routinely threatens double-digit payment reduction to doctors until Congress steps in at the last minute to stop the cuts. Currently a […]
Businesses are still trying to sort out many of the issues that come with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Poor People In At Least 21 States To Face Medicaid Coverage Gap
McClatchy reports that in most states opting against the health law’s Medicaid expansion, millions will be stranded without insurance: They will make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to get subsidies to help buy coverage on the new insurance marketplaces. Other news organizations report on the Michigan Senate’s decision to move ahead with expansion, but not until April, and on the continuing debate in Ohio.
Health Law Rules Aim To Protect Insurance Marketplace Funds, Consumers
The regulations are designed to safeguard how federal funds will be used in online insurance marketplaces and to provide protections to consumers. News outlets also detail a number of health law implementation issues, including a study about how rate shock warnings might be “overblown.”
Colorado Continues Preparing For Exchange Challenges
Meanwhile, researchers say that if Connecticut’s streamlined enrollment process works well, it could mean a significant jump in the number of people who gain insurance for the first time.