Latest KFF Health News Stories
Details Emerge About Key Fixers In ‘Tech Surge’ To Address Website Issues
News outlets report that the administration’s so-called “tech surge” has been somewhat mysterious, but it’s becoming clear that the administration has enlisted engineers from a number of major companies.
As Healthcare.gov Falters, Navigators And Marketing Efforts Forced To The Sidelines
Navigators, who had planned to be working hard on online enrollments by now, are forced to try paper insurance applications or trying to answer consumers’ questions about why they can’t enroll. At the same time, a marketing blitz planned by health law advocates is on hold.
Some States See Enrollment Success Even As Others, Federal Insurance Exchange Struggle
Even as the federal and some state-based insurance marketplaces falter, enrollment numbers in some state-based exchanges are exceeding expectations — including nearly 49,000 in Washington state alone. But some places, like Oregon, are dealing with technical problems that are forcing officials there to hand-process applications.
Democrats Feeling Health Law Anxiety Over Troubled Start
Democrats are worried the health law’s problems could hurt them politically as Senate Democrats push Obama administration officials to ease their anxiety and fix implementation of the law.
Most Uninsured Signing Up On Health Website Are Going To Medicaid
The Washington Post reports that nine out of 10 new enrollees are in Medicaid. Meanwhile, White House documents turned over to investigators in the House show only six people enrolled on the day the troubled website launched.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Texas Abortion Law
A federal appeals court gave the OK for Texas to reinstate a controversial abortion law while its legal fate is being decided and reversed a decision issued earlier this week blocking the law, which now goes back into effect immediately. It requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and limits medication-induced abortions.
Research Roundup: States Struggling With Medicaid Expansion “Complex Issues”
This week’s health policy research and briefs come from the Annals of Emergency Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, the National Association of Medicaid Directors, British Medical Journal and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
First Edition: November 1, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including information from the inside about what happened on day one of the health law’s online insurance marketplace roll out, as well as details about how nervous some Democrats are getting about how the overhaul is shaping up.
Obama Offers Spirited Health Law Defense, Pledges To ‘See It Through’
President Barack Obama, speaking in Boston, appeared “contrite” about health law difficulties, but he took a hard line against the continuing GOP criticism.
Speaking In Massachusetts, Obama Cites Success Of State Health Reforms, Credits Romney
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and former GOP presidential nominee, rejected President Barack Obama’s efforts to draw parallels between the Massachusetts measure that Romney signed into law and Obama’s health overhaul.
Budget Talks Proceed, But With The Same Old Sticking Points
Structural changes to federal health programs, the spending cuts put in place by the sequester and new taxes continue to be the buzz words.
eHealth CEO Says His Company Can Run Healthcare.gov While It’s Being Fixed
The health law’s policy ramifications make news as eHealth’s CEO offers to take over the troubled healthcare.gov, and other groups consider the coverage their workers — including some part-timers — receive. Also, business groups get new lawmaker allies in their fight to delay a health law tax on insurance.
Senate Democrat To Offer Bill Allowing Americans To Keep Their Insurance Plan — If They Like It
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will offer a bill to keep President Barack Obama’s promise that under the health care law Americans could keep the health insurance they had if they liked it. Elsewhere, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have until Thursday afternoon to sort out if they have to make their staffs get coverage on the D.C. health exchange.
State Roundup: Federal Appeals Court Set To Review Texas Abortion Law
A selection of health policy stories from Texas, Colorado, California and Connecticut.
State, Federal Health Insurance Marketplace Issues Expose Struggles, Few Successes
The very public struggles of these exchanges make news in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Connecticut and Minnesota. Some issues include a lack of workers to help people navigate the systems in California, prices in the new marketplaces and an absence of accurate doctor provider lists.
White House, Insurers Resisting Efforts To Delay Health Law’s Individual Mandate
The effort to set back that requirement could hamper efforts to get young, healthy people in the insurance system, and that could undermine the insurance system, they argue.
Concerns About Security Risks Raised Before Health Website Opened, Government Memo Shows
Reuters reports on the memo, which says a lack of testing put the site at “high risk.” But a government spokeswoman says steps were taken to fix those concerns. At the same time, CBS examines the system failures in tests before the launch.
Obama Softens Keep-Your-Insurance Promise After Political Hardship
News outlets dive into the hit President Barack Obama is taking over his oft-repeated line about the health law that if you like the health insurance you have, you can keep it — a sound bite that turned out to be untrue for thousands getting cancellation notices from their insurance companies. Obama walked back his promise Wednesday, saying those people can expect better coverage than that they previously had and blamed the cancellations on “bad apple” insurance companies.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
