Latest KFF Health News Stories
A House Divided: GOP’s Two Leaders Approach 2016 With Starkly Different Mindsets
While Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., wants to dream big on health care repeal, tax reform and other issues, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-Ky., plans are not quite as ambitious. In other news from Capitol Hill, according to a Senate committee report, the Food and Drug Administration took 17 months to notify anyone about infected scopes and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., faces criticism over her remarks on abortion.
Clinton Continues Full-Blown Attack Of Sanders’ Single-Payer Health Plan
Hillary Clinton is calling on her opponent for the Democratic nomination to explain how he would pay for the proposal, which some have given a $15-trillion price tag. Meanwhile Bernie Sanders is frustrated by her statements that his “Medicare-for-all” policy could be vulnerable to Republican governors. And NBC takes a look at what this fight is really all about.
Kentucky Governor’s Move To Disband Health Marketplace Raises Concerns
The insurance exchange had been among the country’s most successful, but the Republican governor had vowed to get rid of it during the campaign.
Health Law’s Risk Strategies Could Be Creating Reverse Robin Hood Effect
The original purpose of the obscure insurance risk adjustment was to support plans with a lot of sick patients by giving them money from ones with healthier customers. In reality, critics say, it’s not working that way. In other health law news, “concierge medicine” is no longer just for billionaires and more on what the Cadillac tax delay means.
Obama Hopes To Entice Reluctant GOP States With Extended Medicaid Funding
Full federal funding of the Medicaid expansion is scheduled to slowly phase down to 90 percent starting next year. Obama wants to allow any state that decides to expand Medicaid eligibility under the law to get three years of full federal funding, no matter when the expansion starts.
Researchers: Call For Cancer ‘Moonshot’ Relies On Archaic View Of Disease
The chance of reaching one cure is unrealistic because cancer is not one disease, experts say. Still, many see the additional funding the president has pledged as key to speeding up the process of finding treatments.
Va. Governor Asks Republicans To Have ‘Open Mind’ On Medicaid Expansion
Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s $109 billion budget includes expansion of the program, but GOP legislators have called it an unhelpful gimmick. Meanwhile in his State of the State address, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal maintains his opposition to Medicaid expansion.
Viewpoints: Joe Biden Takes Aim At Cancer; Obamacare As A Pay Cut
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
News outlets report on health care developments in Kansas, Missouri, Washington, Florida, Colorado and Iowa.
Conn. Seeks To Learn From Other States’ Efforts To Control Health Care Costs
Consultants hired by the state will examine what some other states have done and make recommendations to Connecticut officials. Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, officials are grappling with increased health care costs for city workers.
N.C. On Track To Implement Medicaid Changes By 2016 Deadlines, Officials Say
The state is replacing traditional Medicaid fee-for-service reimbursements with “prepaid health plans” in which the state contracts with private managed-care companies or local health care networks.
Drug, Heroin Abuse Epidemic Draw Presidential Attention In SOTU Address
President Barack Obama listed this issue among those that could gain bipartisan attention in the year ahead. Also, a Food and Drug Administration panel recommended approval for an implant designed to help people recover from these addictions.
Kindred Healthcare Pays $125M To Settle Federal Overbilling Allegations
Authorities alleged that Kindred’s therapy care unit RehabCare provided unnecessary therapy services to nursing home residents and overbilled Medicare.
Anthem Reports Higher-Than-Expected Enrollment Numbers
Anthem’s strong 2016 forecast has given a boost to its peer group, with the four largest insurers seeing a bump in market value. In other news from the industry, the CEO of Aetna predicts the Humana deal will close this year and says he will not withdraw from the public health exchange market.
Executives: Outrage Over Pharma Profiteering Is ‘Perversion Of Reality’
The drug makers defended their products as life saving, and dismissed concerns over prices as “more of a campaign issue than an actual issue.” In other pharmaceutical news, a California cost transparency bill is shelved and the Pfizer and Allergan CEOs tout plans to boost medicine production.
Bernie Sanders Defends Health Care Record Against Hillary Clinton Jabs
Meanwhile, Chelsea Clinton kept up the drumbeat, warning younger voters that her mother’s opponent wants to “dismantle Obamacare,” the CHIP program, Medicare and private insurance. The Sanders campaign called the Clinton attacks “wrong.”
New Louisiana Governor Signs Order For Medicaid Expansion
The action by Democrat John Bel Edwards fulfills a campaign promise. Also in two state-of-the-state speeches, governors in South Dakota and Kansas take different views of the health law’s provision to expand health coverage for low-income residents.
Obama Takes Health Law Push Outside Beltway
The president plans to spend much of the year outside of Washington, D.C., with two of his first stops in Nebraska and Louisiana, where he will press for Medicaid expansion. U.S. News & World Report looks at how the Affordable Care Act’s success lives and dies in the states.
Senate HELP Committee Approves FDA Nominee
Robert Califf, the president’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration, is expected to get full Senate confirmation easily. However, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted against him, citing concerns with Califf’s pharmaceutical ties.
