Latest KFF Health News Stories
Longer Reads: Millenials’ Mental Health and Sleeping Pills Without Side Effects
This week’s reading comes from Slate, The New Yorker, Quartz, The Atlantic and ProPublica.
First Edition: December 5, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how President Barack Obama is trying to connect with young adults and urge them to sign up for health coverage.
White House Advances Health Law Defense, Urges People To Sign Up
The goal is to boost enrollment figures and reframe the debate with Republican opponents.
Today’s Administration Pro-Obamacare Theme To Focus On 18-35 Year Olds
Meanwhile, a new poll looks into how ‘young invincibles’ feel about buying insurance while a second measures public thoughts on paying the fine instead of getting coverage.
Viewpoints: Why Can’t Health Website Be Like Amazon?; Debunking GOP’s Resistance To Medicaid
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
United Health Details Expected 2014 Health Law Hits
The AP reports on these predictions offered by the nation’s largest health insurer.
States Lead In Health Law Insurance Sign-Up Race
States operating their own insurance websites are leading the federal government in signing up people for health coverage. Though healthcare.gov, the federal website which serves the residents of 36 states, is working better for some, complicated cases still bewilder “navigators” — and Texas has proposed new rules and background checks for the workers.
New, Improved Healthcare.gov Gets Praise, But Problems Persist
Administration officials lauded the website fixes and said that 750,000 users logged on Monday, but insurers continued to have concerns about the transfer of inaccurate data and automated subsidy calculations.
Report: IRS Ready To Calculate Subsidies, Needs To Boost Fraud Detection
The report concluded that subsidies could be vulnerable to fraud — marking yet another potential trouble spot for the health law’s implementation.
Federal Judge Hears Arguments On Health Law Subsidies
Millions of people in 34 states could be denied government subsidies to help them pay for insurance if the latest lawsuit brought by the opponents of the health law is successful. Meanwhile, Notre Dame joined the groups challenging the law’s mandate that most large employers offer birth control coverage without a co-pay.
1.46 Million Enroll In Medicaid Through Health Law Exchanges
The Obama administration said Tuesday that more than 1.46 million people have been found eligible and signed up for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program in October. Meanwhile, South Dakota’s governor won’t rule out expanding Medicaid in the future and Ohio lawmakers are poised to give themselves greater oversight of the program after the governor bypassed them to expand it.
State Highlights: Caremark To Pay MassHealth $2.6M After Not Reimbursing Claims
A selection of health policy stories from Massachusetts, Oregon, Kansas and North Carolina.
First Edition: December 4, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the White House’s push to defend the health law and advance positive messages about its benefits.
Reviews Mixed For ‘Fixed’ Health Care Website
Some said the Monday’s healthcare.gov relaunch — marked by heavy traffic — was “rocky” and “bumpy,” but administration officials maintained the user experience was much smoother as a result of fixes.
White House Readies New Health Law Push After Website Woes
President Barack Obama and the White House will launch a new three-week health law offensive to re-sell the law to Americans after woes with the federal online website to buy health coverage hurt public perception of the law. Obama himself plans on buying coverage on the federal exchange website.
Earlier Signs Of Website Problems Weren’t Addressed
The Wall Street Journal examines how officials building the federal marketplace failed to alert others to problems they were encountering. Other reports look at the concerns about some functions on the site that still are not working properly.
Also, some economists are saying the health law will cost less than expected and a new poll examines how much people know about the law.
Supreme Court Turns Down Liberty University’s Challenge To The Health Law’s Employer Mandate
The Christian college, located in Virginia, argued that the mandate is unconstitutional, but the high court rejected the petition, marking the second time in two years that it has declined to review the constitutionality of the overhaul’s requirements for most large employers regarding health coverage for workers.
Problem Transferring Medicaid Enrollment Data Could Leave Some Without Coverage
The difficulty with sending the completed Medicaid applications from the federal website to states for final processing could leave some of the newly enrolled without coverage early next year. To circumvent the problem, administration officials agreed to let states enroll people without their full applications. But that poses potential risks for states.
Health Law Complicates Democratic Senators’ Reelection Efforts In The South
The Wall Street Journal reports that three of the four most vulnerable Senate Democrats are from southern states. The paper also looks at how members of Congress will fare on the new online insurance marketplace.
