Latest KFF Health News Stories
Another Senate Vote To Repeal The Health Law? Harry Reid Says No.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., had hoped to schedule a repeal vote before the end of September.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports on a Capitol Hill hearing during which House GOP lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency’s health care subsidy ruling.
Nursing Schools Struggling To Find Professors
Despite a nursing shortage, nursing schools are turning away qualified applicants because there aren’t enough professors.
Baltimore Center Brings Hope to Homeless Struggling With Mental Illness
Catering to mentally ill homeless individuals and staffed by workers who have struggled with the same problems, the HOPE Wellness and Recovery Center is providing a critical safety net in Baltimore.
Vermont Wields New Power Over Hospital Budgets
Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board, established by state law in May 2011 and given new powers last spring, is taking over responsibility for virtually every aspect of health care in the state. This month’s project for the new regulatory board: How much hospital budgets should go up on an annual basis. The board has established […]
Economists Say Market-Based Approach Will Curb Costs Best
A market-based effort to control health care spending would provide Medicare beneficiaries with fixed subsidies, rather than the current system’s open-ended ones, a trio of conservative health economists said Wednesday. The economists said in an online paper for the New England Journal of Medicine that while the 2010 federal health law aims to slow health […]
Today’s Headlines – August 2, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including stories detailing the latest news on various issues involved in the health law’s implementation, as well as reports about Medicare and Medicaid . The Wall Street Journal: Small Firms See Pain In Health Law Restaurants and retailers face some of the toughest changes now that […]
Doctors, Women, Religious Groups Feel Impact Of Birth Control Coverage Mandate
The coverage mandate took effect Aug. 1. Physicians say they — rather than insurers — will feel the burden of the rule. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress stay relatively quiet on the requirement, but tensions continue among Catholics and evangelical Protestants.
Some Small Businesses Brace For Health Law Hardships
The Wall Street Journal reports on the impact the health law could have on restaurants and retailers, while other news outlets explore reverberations of the Supreme Court decision making the expansion of Medicaid effectively optional.
State Roundup: N.Y. Law Requires Coverage For Partial Mastectomy
A selection of health policy stories from New York, Texas, Connecticut, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Experts Offer Disparate Views On Controlling Health Care Costs
Dueling articles in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday propose sharply different ways to curb medical spending. The proposals offer a glimpse of the rival approaches that could emerge in 2013, when Congress will have to tackle the budget deficit and the future of the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.
Doctors Will Have To Figure Out Who Gets ‘No-Cost’ Birth Control
The new provision of the federal health law that waives cost sharing for women’s preventive health services may be a mandate on insurance companies, but it’s providers who are complaining about its burden. That’s because not all women are eligible for the cost sharing waiver at the same time. The rule went into effect Wednesday, […]
Romney’s Record On Health Care Examined
News outlets look at presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s style and positions on health care before and after he was governor of Massachusetts.
CBO Sets Price Tag For Delaying Scheduled Medicare Physician Payment Cuts: $271 Billion
Medpage Today reports that the Congressional Budget Office has updated its estimates for the cost of repealing or continuing to delay scheduled physician pay reductions under Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate.
Medicare Seeks More Time To Estimate Cost Of Fixing Card Security Issues
A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, said it would take six more months to figure out this cost and that he could not yet provide a timetable for removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards.
Group Health, Providence Health Care Team Up In Pacific Northwest
The Group Health Cooperative and Providence Health Care are joining forces in a new limited liability corporation with the goal of providing more efficient health services.
Super-Bug Technology Draws High-Tech Attention
The Wall Street Journal reports that some small companies see this area as a business opportunity.
U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Arizona’s 20-Week Abortion Ban
A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked an Arizona law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy as it considers the case. The law was upheld by a trial judge Monday and was set to take effect Thursday.
Most States Expect Higher Costs After Medicaid Expansion
A new report from the Government Accountability Office found that most state budget directors expect an increase in their costs if they expand Medicaid, even when the federal government picks up 100 percent of the expanded enrollment tab.
Missouri Supreme Court Strikes Down Cap On Medical Malpractice Damages
Missouri’s Supreme Court has ruled that a 20-year-old, $350,000 cap on non-economic medical malpractice damages — pain and suffering — takes away a citizen’s right to trial by jury and is unconstitutional.