Latest KFF Health News Stories
This week’s health policy studies come from Health Affairs, Annals of Family Medicine, JAMA Surgery, the Urban Institute, The Kaiser Family Foundation, the American Journal of Medicine, Rand Corp. and the University of Minnesota.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including details about the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as well as coverage of her likely successor, Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
As Sebelius Plans Departure, Challenges Remain For Successor
Sources said that Kathleen Sebelius decided to resign and was not “forced out.”
Details — And Limits — Of Medicare Billing Data Emerge
News outlets begin to analyze the wealth of information now available as a result of Wednesday’s release by the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services of a trove of payment records. They also note the limits.
Analysis Of Medicare Pay Shows Variations In Drugs Used And Earnings By Specialists
The Washington Post examines how drugs administered by doctors is different in various regions of the country. Other outlets look at other issues, including how eye doctors are among the highest paid specialty.
White House Admits ‘Worrying About The Wrong Thing’
Top officials say they focused too much on whether enough insurance companies would participate and not enough on the smooth rollout of the exchange website, The New York Times reports.
Taking A Close-To-Home Look At The Medicare Billing Data
Other news outlets offer localized takes on the Medicare data, including the Miami Herald’s coverage of a physician who emerged as the federal program’s top-paid doctor, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s look at an ambulance business’ billing patterns and the Seattle Times’ examination of ophthalmologists.
The bill, which was surprisingly defeated, would have exempted expatriates’ insurance plans from the health law.
N.H. Senate Hopeful Makes Anti-Health Law Motto Cornerstone Of Campaign
The former Massachusetts senator, running now for Senate in New Hampshire, says the health law forces people to “live free or log on,” a variation of New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” motto.
Oregon, Minnesota Exchanges Weigh Next Steps
Officials overseeing the troubled exchanges examine what went wrong this year and debate how to proceed. Meanwhile, a small business exchange in Georgia gets few enrollees and The Denver Post reports that more residents signed up for Medicaid than for private insurance.
Viewpoints: Medicare’s ‘Doctor Payment Problem’; A ‘Wasted Advantage’; ‘Puzzling’ Rand Numbers
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
A selection of health policy stories from Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, Florida, Iowa and Oregon.
Longer Looks: Vermont’s Single Payer System; Nevada’s Cancer Cluster
This week’s articles come from Vox, The Atlantic, Health Affairs, The Houston Chronicle, The Boston Globe and WBUR.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a range of stories taking additional looks at the Medicare physician payment data released yesterday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
CMS Releases Trove Of Medicare Physician Billing Data
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is making this information available for the first time in 35 years. Meanwhile, in their first run at the data, news outlets report that a small number of doctors account for a large share of Medicare costs.
Portrait Of Newly Insured Takes Shape
Early enrollees in the health law’s marketplaces were more likely to use expensive specialty drugs and less likely to use contraceptives, according to an analysis of two months of drug claims data by Express Scripts. A Rand analysis, meanwhile, argues that most of the newly insured signed up with an employer rather than buying it through the marketplaces.
State Highlights: R.I. Disabled Settlement’s Far Reach; Ore. Long-Term Care Rates
A selection of health policy stories from Oregon, Massachusetts, California, Minnesota, Kansas, Arizona and Florida.
Health Law: Attack Ad Fuel For Midterms
The Wall Street Journal reports on three ads that focus on health care with roots in the 2008 presidential election, while the Koch brothers have launched health law ads against Democratic senators they deem vulnerable. And many health law critics have accepted the law’s subsidies.
CVS Caremark To Pay $20 Million To Settle SEC Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission had alleged that CVS did not tell investors ahead of a 2009 bond offering that it had lost “significant” Medicare Part D revenue. Elsewhere, two drugmakers are ordered to pay $9 billion in damages for failing to disclose the cancer risks for Actos, a diabetes drug.
Maryland A.G. Urges Probe of State Health Exchange
Douglas Gansler, also a Democratic candidate for governor, called on Gov. Martin O’Malley to launch an independent probe of problems and management issues that related to the state’s online insurance marketplace.
