Latest KFF Health News Stories
Consumers Beware: Cheaper Insurance Policies Mean Higher Deductibles
Bloomberg News reports that consumers buying cheap insurance in the new health insurance marketplaces may face sticker shock if they get sick next year because of deductibles that can top $6,000 a person. Meanwhile, news outlets in Oregon and Massachusetts report on website glitches that continue to make enrollment in those states difficult.
Lawmakers Stake Out Positions On President’s Plan, Pursue Legislative Steps
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, signaled his intent to bring a bill by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., to the floor for a vote. Republican leaders expect the bill, which is viewed by the administration as an effort to undo the health law, to pass easily. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says Democrats have their own legislative plan. And, in the Senate, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., applauded the president’s step, but maintains that further legislative action is needed.
Health Law Fumbles Threaten Obama’s Agenda
Media analyses argue the health law’s rollout problems are endangering the rest of President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda as his credibility and job approval ratings suffer. Others see his blunt admission of blame as an effort to improve his public standing and counter a revolt within his own party.
States Consider What Obama’s Canceled Plan Request Means For Them
The president’s plan to allow insurers to extend canceled health plans through 2014 has state regulators trying to work through the details about how this will affect insurers and the health law’s marketplaces in their states. In California, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has asked insurers and marketplace officials to comply with the president’s request.
Obama’s Plan Puts Onus On Insurers
Insurance executives say they were caught off guard by the White House decision to allow them to revive canceled policies and many are worried about how to make it work.
State Highlights: Dispute Over What Doctors Can Say At Catholic Hospital
A dispute between a Colorado cardiologist and a Catholic hospital over what he says is a ban on discussing abortion with patients, even when a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, is part of today’s health policy roundup from Colorado and California.
Medicaid Enrollment Progresses Under Health Overhaul
Gov. Scott Walker says he wants to delay his plan to move more than 70,000 people off Medicaid because the health law online marketplaces are not working well enough yet.
California Shuts Down 10 Sites Imitating State Insurance Marketplace
The California attorney general said her office shuttered the websites that had mimicked the state’s official health insurance exchange “in order to lure consumers away from plans that provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.”
Obama Nominates Harvard Hospitalist, Early Health Law Supporter To Be Surgeon General
President Obama nominated Dr. Vivek Murthy, a hospitalist at Harvard and an early supporter of the health law, to be the nation’s surgeon general.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
Research Roundup: Other Nations Surpass U.S. Health Care
This week’s studies come from Health Affairs, The Commonwealth Fund, the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Surgery, the AARP Public Policy Institute and news outlets.
First Edition: November 15, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a range of stories examining the policy, marketplace and political dynamics in play as a result of President Barack Obama’s move to stop the cancellation of insurance plans.
Obama Offers Fix For Insurance Plan Cancellations
President Barack Obama offered the outlines of an administrative fix to the problem some consumers are facing — health coverage cancellation notices.
Obama Faces Trust Issues As A Result Of Health Law Woes
President Barack Obama — and Democrats, by proxy — face big political problems as a result of the botched rollout of the insurance website and the debunking of his pledge that Americans could keep their health plans if they liked them. Recent polls have Democrats and Republicans neck-and-neck in midterm election polls, and Fox News reports that half of voters think the president “knowingly lied” about the health law.
Congressional Democrats Fuming At White House Handling Of Health Law
An increasing number of these lawmakers say they favor a legislative plan offered by Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana to allow people whose insurance has been canceled because of the law to keep it.
Why California Could Delay Anthem’s Cancellations; Young People’s Coverage Costs
NPR examines an administration claim that half of young people can get coverage for $50 per month or less, while California Healthline explores the reasons the state insurance commissioner was able to delay Anthem’s cancellations.
House Oversight Panel Grills Administration Tech Officials On Website Woes
The White House’s chief technology officer, Todd Park, told the committee that teams are working aggressively to get the website functioning “for the vast majority” of consumers by the administration’s Nov. 30 deadline. Meanwhile, a second panel heard testimony about website and security concerns.
State Highlights: In Ohio, Enrollment In Expanded Medicaid Will Begin Next Month
In other Medicaid news, federal prosecutors are looking into a recent settlement between the District of Columbia and a former Medicaid contractor.
Both Sides In The Health Law Battle Spin Insurance Sign-Up Figures
Health law advocates offered positive messages about the enrollment numbers released Wednesday by the Obama administration while the measure’s critics pounced on the low figures and renewed calls for action.
What The Health Law’s Future Holds: Fixing The Website And Everything After
News outlets report on the various ways the website issues and sign-up woes could be addressed, as well as what a variety of experts say about the global outlook for the health law.
