Latest KFF Health News Stories
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
State Insurance Exchanges: Separating Fact From Fiction
Georgia Health News asks a state insurance expert to analyze premiums in the new online marketplace — they dispute predictions of exploding premiums by Georgia’s insurance commissioner. Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Star Tribune talks to people in that state’s high risk insurance pool who could not buy policies in the past because of serious illnesses but who will be able to do so beginning Oct. 1.
Those In Gay Marriages Set To Receive New Federal Benefits
The federal government on Thursday issued rules on the federal benefits that gay Americans and their same-sex spouses can expect to receive. HHS said Medicare will allow all beneficiaries access to care in a nursing home where their spouse lives. A ruling from Treasury and the IRS also has implications for the health law, combining gay spouses’ incomes in determining eligibility for the Medicaid expansion and subsidies to buy coverage in online marketplaces.
State Highlights: Texas Bans Youth From Tanning Salons
A selection of health policy stories from Texas, Florida, South Dakota, Washington and California.
Research Roundup: Assessing New Hospital Observation Rule
This week’s studies come from JAMA Internal Medicine, Science, JAMA Pediatrics, The Kaiser Family Foundation, JAMA and news outlets.
First Edition: August 30, 2013
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the latest on congressional efforts to avert a financial crisis as well as coverage of the news from the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services about how same-sex marriage will be recognized.
In what the department described as its “first guidance” in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, HHS said that all Medicare Advantage enrollees, including same-sex couples, will have equal access to coverage in a nursing home. The Internal Revenue Service made a similar announcement today regarding tax filing by same-sex couples.
As Deficit Talks Resume, Health Law Funding Fight Escalates
News outlets report little optimism that talks between a group of Republican senators and the White House will resolve the impasse. Meanwhile, House Republicans are expected to use the battle over raising the debt limit as leverage to block the health law — either by stripping away its funds, or delaying implementation.
Bill Clinton Enlisted To Promote Health Law
The former president will speak about the overhaul Sept. 4 at his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. Media outlets also explore the activities of two nongovernment groups reaching out to people who will be able to shop for insurance in new online marketplaces opening Oct. 1.
Longer Looks: Should Women Pay More Than Men For Insurance?
This week’s selections come from Slate, Salon, The Philadelphia Inquirer, American Medical News and Time.
Businesses are still trying to sort out many of the issues that come with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Poor People In At Least 21 States To Face Medicaid Coverage Gap
McClatchy reports that in most states opting against the health law’s Medicaid expansion, millions will be stranded without insurance: They will make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to get subsidies to help buy coverage on the new insurance marketplaces. Other news organizations report on the Michigan Senate’s decision to move ahead with expansion, but not until April, and on the continuing debate in Ohio.
Colorado Continues Preparing For Exchange Challenges
Meanwhile, researchers say that if Connecticut’s streamlined enrollment process works well, it could mean a significant jump in the number of people who gain insurance for the first time.
Health Law Rules Aim To Protect Insurance Marketplace Funds, Consumers
The regulations are designed to safeguard how federal funds will be used in online insurance marketplaces and to provide protections to consumers. News outlets also detail a number of health law implementation issues, including a study about how rate shock warnings might be “overblown.”
Some GOP Leaders Still Resist The Health Law, Others View It As Political Reality
News outlets offer varying takes on how governors and state leaders are interacting with the health law.
Poll: Americans Divided On Health Law But Oppose Defunding It
A majority of Americans don’t want to defund Obamacare, even as they remain divided on liking the law. The poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation also found that 51 percent of Americans don’t understand how the law will affect them. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the Foundation.)
Some Insurers Refusing To Pay For Proton-Beam Cancer Therapy
Blue Shield of California joins two other insurers who contend that other cancer treatments are just as good, and far less expensive.
After Voting To Cut Payments To Dialysis Clinics, Many Lawmakers Seek A Reversal
On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers are rethinking the Medicare policy for kidney patients because clinics argue they may have to close or cut services. Elsewhere, the president of the American Medical Association is optimistic Congress will change Medicare’s payment formula, and a Republican senator wants all congressional staff to get coverage in Obamacare’s exchanges.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
States Search For, Reap Benefits From Programs To Lower Health Care Costs
Bloomberg explores the heavy financial toll of caring for a loved one with a disability. In the meantime, as states like Minnesota, Oklahoma and Florida see slower health care cost growth through implementing novel programs, others — like Nevada and Wisconsin — search for the magic tonic to lower their own costs.
